Born Again
I became a born again Christian at the age of 26. Born again is a term that gives some people reason to pause, not really understanding. I hear a lot of people making fun of the term, as if it means radical. Maybe, I suppose I could be considered radical by some. I've been radical over many things...being a responsible parent, neutering your pets...things like that. I was never a Christian until the day I became born again, so I don't really know what life as a Christian without being born again is.
Here are the things I do know about 'born again'. It means exactly what it states, being born again. Nothing really confusing there. The question in the Bible asks how can you be born again, is it by climbing back into your mothers womb and being born a second time? That would be confusing, if that's what it meant, yes? But nope, that's not it at all. Being born again is realizing that your life without Christ was full of sin, regardless of how 'good' of a person you were, it was self serving, self centered and self ruled. When we ask Christ into our hearts and give our life over to Him, we have to bury the old self. The old self has to be put down and buried, and the person we are becomes new in Christ. We, the old self is reborn into a new being and all things become new. Our reasons for life, our reasoning period is centered around Christ. He becomes the ultimate decision maker in our life, the CEO of all that we are. We can not become new in Christ and remain the old person. Thus, the term, born again.
It was easy for me to give up all that I was. I was miserable and living a life that was killing me, only I had no reason to change because it was all that I'd ever known and it was a matter of habit...and addiction to my lifestyle. Putting down the 'old man' and becoming new again in Christ was the most amazing event in my life. All things became new. My mindset was reborn, my purpose for living was reborn, my desire to live was reborn. I became a new person in Jesus Christ, and when I invited Him into my being, into my life, into my the very core of my existence, I gladly buried the person that I had been for 26 years and was born again as a follower of Jesus Christ.
The change in me was immediate. I saw things clearer, I could think clearer, there was a reason to get out of bed and a reason to live and be a witness of what had happened to me. I was completely reborn. I took none of the old self with me, and I've never missed what I left behind.
I am so thankful for God's mercy and for His grace that covered me for the first 26 years of my life, and waited for me with a patience that only God the Father could have. I am so thankful for the One that went before me, and made a way for me.
Here are the things I do know about 'born again'. It means exactly what it states, being born again. Nothing really confusing there. The question in the Bible asks how can you be born again, is it by climbing back into your mothers womb and being born a second time? That would be confusing, if that's what it meant, yes? But nope, that's not it at all. Being born again is realizing that your life without Christ was full of sin, regardless of how 'good' of a person you were, it was self serving, self centered and self ruled. When we ask Christ into our hearts and give our life over to Him, we have to bury the old self. The old self has to be put down and buried, and the person we are becomes new in Christ. We, the old self is reborn into a new being and all things become new. Our reasons for life, our reasoning period is centered around Christ. He becomes the ultimate decision maker in our life, the CEO of all that we are. We can not become new in Christ and remain the old person. Thus, the term, born again.
It was easy for me to give up all that I was. I was miserable and living a life that was killing me, only I had no reason to change because it was all that I'd ever known and it was a matter of habit...and addiction to my lifestyle. Putting down the 'old man' and becoming new again in Christ was the most amazing event in my life. All things became new. My mindset was reborn, my purpose for living was reborn, my desire to live was reborn. I became a new person in Jesus Christ, and when I invited Him into my being, into my life, into my the very core of my existence, I gladly buried the person that I had been for 26 years and was born again as a follower of Jesus Christ.
The change in me was immediate. I saw things clearer, I could think clearer, there was a reason to get out of bed and a reason to live and be a witness of what had happened to me. I was completely reborn. I took none of the old self with me, and I've never missed what I left behind.
I am so thankful for God's mercy and for His grace that covered me for the first 26 years of my life, and waited for me with a patience that only God the Father could have. I am so thankful for the One that went before me, and made a way for me.
posted by kathi | 6:37 AM
