This week TJC is sharing some key platforms that align with our absolutes shared earlier this month. We have chosen...
Again Born? Via TJC
“I say unto thee, Except one be born anew, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” John 3:3
I remember being frustrated by some “christians” harping on “you need” to be born again. They recounted the day, time and place of their conversion. I had been hanging out with some of these “Christians” for years. They were full of bible verses, but to tell the truth, if that was the walk I was not seeing what they meant by “born again”.
I had been raised Catholic and as a teen participated in the sacrament of Confirmation, where a baptized person confirms their faith, and accepts and is sealed with the gift of the Holy Spirit, to be strengthened for service to Christ. Since I had been in church my whole life, I didn’t experience anything dramatic, as I had always accepted Christ and the Holy Spirit, but really walking?
Why would I need some dramatic conversion, be born again? We aren’t all like Paul, some of us are more like the Ethiopian castrated man, who heard the Word explained to him and believed. There was nothing dramatic - but a growing into.
So how do you know, you are a new creation, born again, a son of the King? It's not by looking back at some particular moment/experience - it is by observing the fruits in your life. Do you believe, have you turned away from your sins, do you show love for your neighbor and desire to walk a holy life?
No one is perfect in their walk, we all fail. But I/we know our life has changed, you have a new nature, a new way of life, that reflects your walk with Christ.
I don’t like throwing scriptures around but I think Ezeckiel describes being “newl, at least more clearly to me than John 3:3
“I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your uncleanness and from all your idols. Moreover, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will be careful to do My judgments.”
Daily Battle Order:
My brother-in-law was sharing a conversation he had with his older sons and telling them that you only know about 20% of me. He recounted that they were shocked as they had been around him their entire life. He replied, “you don't know who I was as a young man, details of most of my relationships at work, marriage”, etc. His sons had seen a steady stream of holiness in his life, a man who appeared to have always walked with God.
What does your family know about your walk, do they assume you have always been that way, or was there a moment, even a struggle as God changed your heart? Share with them what it means for you to walk with God, and then ask them what walk they would like to take. And then literally ask them to go for a walk and listen.
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