Born Again

1 Peter 1:23 You have been born again. This new life did not come from something that dies. It came from something that cannot die. You were born again through God’s life-giving message that lasts forever.

If you call yourself a Christian, might I ask you … are you truly a Christian? Not by your own definition, but according to what the Word of God says. Are you “born again” … or not? The answer matters a lot!

I was in a car with some people recently and their talk turned to what it means to be a Christian. Now, they weren’t believers so I listened with great interest. Then they asked me to tell them what I thought it meant. So I started sharing, and one of them interjected with a note somewhere between disdain and horror in her voice.

“Oh, I hope you’re not one of those born again Christians!” I smiled, because a few years earlier I’d have said the very same thing. She was a little taken a back, I think, when I replied, “Well actually, that’s the only sort Christian there is.”

1 Peter 1:23 You have been born again. This new life did not come from something that dies. It came from something that cannot die. You were born again through God’s life-giving message that lasts forever.

Becoming a Christian isn’t about cleaning up your act and then hoping that God will accept you. It’s completely the opposite. It’s not something you work your way into – it’s something that’s given to you through God’s life-giving message; a message that lasts for ever.

And when we believe with everything that we are, with everything that we have, with every hope and every dream, that Jesus Christ died for us, when we enter into a relationship with a God who loves us so much that it just blows the mind, when we give ourselves over to that God, it’s like a completely new beginning.

That’s what it means to be “born again”. And it’s the only sort of Christian there is.

That’s God’s Word. Fresh … for you … today.