Born Again
Born again. Do you know what Jesus meant and had in mind when He said those two words to Nicodemus? He was talking covenant talk. He was telling Nicodemus what it genuinely meant to have a covenant with God.
3Jesus answered him, I assure you, most solemnly I tell you, that unless a person is born again (anew, from above), he cannot ever see (know, be acquainted with, and experience) the kingdom of God.
Let me paint the picture I believe was in Jesus’ mind. Imagine a baby, a little baby born of an unwed mother and given up for adoption. No one knows who its daddy is and no one wants to know. He is a child that nobody wants. He does not belong to anyone.
Now, picture the best kind of family you can think of — a family that loves God. The man has a good job. They are blessed financially. They are givers and lovers of people, and they fall in love with this baby. Before long, they adopt it.
What has happened? That baby was reborn. He got a new set of parents. Through adoption, he has now become an heir. Why? Not because of anything the baby has done. Those parents did not say, “We want you to look at that baby. We are so impressed with all that child has done for us. He has certainly earned our love and respect.”
No, it is a baby. It could not have done anything to earn its new life. This man and this woman agreed together out of the love in their hearts and bestowed grace on that child. Now he has access to everything they have. When they offer him a bottle, he does not knock the bottle away and say, “I am so humble and undeserving. Just give me water.”
Of course not, that baby acts like part of the family — and not just part of the family, but the best part of the family. Why? Because in Jesus’ day, a covenant or adopted child had the same birthright as the firstborn son.
That is what Jesus was talking about when He said, “You must be born again.” He was talking about grace. He was talking about a new relationship of favor. A new family. A new authority. A new power. All of this is ours and bestowed upon us by God through the new covenant.
In summary, if we feel unworthy to receive the rich blessings God has for us today, we simply need to think about what Jesus meant. Then meditate on it, so instead of worrying about and struggling with the needs in our lives, we can just walk boldly into the throne room of our Heavenly Father and receive help to get those needs met. This, in turn, allows us to discover what it really means to be a blood-bought child of Almighty God with a big brother like Jesus and what it truly means to be born again.
God Bless!
“Scripture quotations taken from the Amplified Bible”
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