When We Are Born Again

When my niece was born, she spent the first half-hour of her life drinking in everything about this strange new world into which she had been born. We wondered what she thought about the things that are so familiar to us. What was it like to be born?

Jesus once said, “You must be born again.” (John 3:7)

He means so much in those five words, but I think I know a little of what He intended.

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The Unknown Life
When a person stands on the brink of her life and hears the call of God, she is afraid. She knows instinctively that being born again means never again living as she has lived up until now, but rather living a new life as a new person. 

The fear of the unknown has pushed many people away from the brink and torn from them their only chance at true life. For those who choose life, the process of rebirth opens a world that they have never seen before.

The Life That Awaits
When my niece was in the womb, sounds were distorted and lights were dim. She had feet, but did not know that they were meant for walking. She had eyes, but did not know that they were meant to see the faces of those she loved and the beauties of her world. She had hands, and did not know that they were meant to grasp the fingers of those who love her. 

Through the trauma of birth, she is now in the world where all of those wonderful things are possible. What joy for the new Christian who finds herself thrust into a world where her eyes can see the truth and her ears can hear the voice of her Beloved!


The Reality of Life after Life
Yet another birth awaits. To us, Heaven is such a distant reality, and sometimes its unfamiliarity and mystery is troubling to us. But suppose that, prior to my niece’s birth, you could have told her about life after birth. Would she have preferred the predictable warmth of the womb to the feel of the wind in her hair, the view of a distant lake from a mountaintop, the scent of a lilac in bloom, or the sound of her loved ones’ voices?

If you could make her understand all that she could have and experience, she would accept the difficulties of her birth and leap joyfully into the life that awaited her.

Do not fear a life with Christ. Do not fear the final rebirth. Perhaps we cannot comprehend it now, but our life is so much more than this.

A whole new world awaits us. Are we ready for it?

1 Corinthians 15:42-44a
So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown in corruption; it is raised in incorruption: It is sown in dishonour; it is raised in glory: it is sown in weakness; it is raised in power: It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body.