01/20/2025
Being reborn into the kingdom of God through Jesus Christ is more than a moment's occurrence. Like our own physical birth's it takes time; being born again involves conception, nurturing from the church's body, and then following a struggle of labor comes the glory of entering the light for our very first glimpse of salvation and heaven.
“Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.”
John 3:3 KJV
I enjoyed reading the words of Oswald Chambers this morning as he described spiritual rebirth...
"Being born again from above is a perennial, perpetual, and eternal beginning; a freshness all the time in thinking and in talking and in living, the continual surprise of the life of God." - Oswald Chambers
One of the thoughts I was having is encapsulated in his simple phrase "the continual surprise of the life of God." Being born again isn't the end goal... it is the beginning. It makes us the child of God and gives us a Father, and His name, but it doesn't give us his personality and mannerisms; that takes a lifetime.
I have two brothers and two sisters. We are separated by distance in miles, but when we get together I not only recognize their faces, but I see all the traits they share with me. I see the pieces of personality that our parents imparted to us. Some are subtle like a certain laugh or a way of glancing, but others are more obvious like the way we walk, move our hands, or talk.
When we have lived in the presence of our Heavenly Father and our Brother Jesus for any length of time, we begin to take on the attributes of theirs that join us together in more than just DNA. We begin to learn how to use this new body and mind in a way that is particular to our family. The world has certain mannerisms it teaches us, but most of them are at odds with those of our spiritual family.
As we lived with our earthly mother and father, they taught us things that sheltered us from the harm that the world could do. We came home from public school to be taught those very private and personal lessons of living that would temper the things we witnessed in the world around us and which made us unique to our family's moral and physical fabric. This is what happens in our spiritual lives too.
However, living outside our family home for long periods of time separates us from the constant reminder of who we are, and demands that the lessons learned be constantly employed in order to fight off being absorbed back into that very different family... one that doesn't love us but would nevertheless like to make us a part of itself, and the family of man. Some of us have joined or rejoined that family and have found ourselves too ashamed to go back home. This happens spiritually also.
Chambers made a statement about this separation from God. He implied that it can be gradual and happen without our realizing it. Listen to what he said...
"If you are depending upon anything but Him, you will never know when He is gone."
When I was a boy on my grandfather's farm I went hunting. I walked into the woods and moved from one valley to another looking for game. Then in a moment of fear I realized that I didn't know where I was any longer... I was lost. At first I cried in fear, terror, and desperation, but then I remembered the lessons my father had taught me about the outdoors. I followed a small creek down from the hills until it met a road and then I went to a nearby farmhouse and asked them to call my grandfather. What I had learned from my father had been pushed away by my desire to hunt and then by the fear of separation, but it had returned when I thought of home and it saved me.
The wonderful thing about being born into our earthly families, and spiritual families, is this... no matter how debased we may become, no matter how lost we are, there are still mannerisms and personality traits that remain within us. Despite the world's best efforts to erase them all there are glimpses that remain, and underneath the blanket of otherness lies our desire to return to the safety and love of our family... of God. It may not be easy, but the doorway back home remains open. In the parable of the prodigal son we see this lesson in action; and it holds true. We can rejoin our families; both earthly and spiritual.
“For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found. And they began to be merry.”
Luke 15:24 KJV
Are we ready to be reborn and begin to learn what it means to be a child of God, and a member of His heavenly family?
Prayer:
Father, I thank you for my rebirth, and I thank you for all the lessons regarding Jesus, yourself, and the family of heaven that you have taught me. I thank you for leading me out of the fallen world when I was lost, and Lord I know that should I ever wander away, my longing for you will lead me back into your presence once more. Lord, help me to recognize the traits, personality, and mannerisms of my brothers and sisters when they have wandered and are making their way home from the desert with a burning desire to be reunited with you once again. Let me look into their faces and see traces of you that define us as a family and give me the same joy that you have when you hear your lost children returning home. Father, make me new to you each day and give me a freshness in your love. Let each day with you bring me joy and when I rise let me see the image of Christ when I look at myself in the mirror. I praise you Lord for all you instill in me and the closeness we maintain all day long. Abba, Father, let your hand and mine move as one, let our voices sound the same, let my stride match yours, and in all your given traits and mannerisms show me that I am your child. When I hear the joy in your voice while we are talking, and when I skip a step to come back into stride with you, make it obvious to me and the world that we are one… one in spirit, one in love, one in faith, and made one together just as you are with Christ. You abide in me Father; given that you abide in Christ, and Christ abides in me. So it is that in this way you are in me through Him. I praise your name for this my heritage in you and I know that this is my true lineage. Hear the prayers of the lost sinners as they join the family of God. Hear them today as they pray this prayer with me now…
A Sinner’s Prayer:
“Lord Jesus, forgive me my sins for I am a worldly sinner who needs your forgiveness. I ask Lord that you come into my heart and by the grace of God help me to turn away from all sin and temptation hereafter. Jesus, I believe that you are the Son of God, who was born of the virgin Mary and who lived, suffered, died, and was resurrected to redeem me from the sin and death of this fallen world. It is my desire to follow you and trust in the Word of God because I believe that you are my savior and redeemer. Help me now in my unbelief and teach me to love as you do.” Amen
“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.”
John 3:16-17 ESV
“Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me.”
John 15:4 ESV
“Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own authority, but the Father who dwells in me does his works.”
John 14:10 ESV
“The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, 23 I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me.”
John 17:22-23 ESV
Hallelujah, and Amen, Amen, Amen!
Rich Forbes