Born Again

DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL OF JOHN

BORN AGAIN

John 3:1-3

3:1 Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a member of the Jewish ruling council. 2 He came to Jesus at night and said, "Rabbi, we know you are a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the miraculous signs you are doing if God were not with him." 3 In reply Jesus declared, "I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again." 

NIV

What better Christmas day devotion this this words of Christ? This is the first teaching of Jesus as recorded by John regarding what it takes to regain our rightful position in the family of God. Sure Adam and Eve started out in the family, with all the rights as heirs to the Kingdom. They had it all, even walking in the cool of the day side by side with God himself, well maybe it was actually Jesus, God in the flesh. But as we know God gave them a choice to make and they blew it so from that day forward all of mankind no longer had any rights to the Kingdom of God, instead they had a long list of laws to attempt to live by so they would see the foolish of trying to live alone, thinking the laws would regain them their rights to the Kingdom. But know we know nothing can do that, for as Jesus tells Nicodemus, he tells us all that in order for any of us to see the Kingdom of God we must be born again. What a gift is this. Jesus has just given us the key to regaining our rights as heirs to the Kingdom of God. Of course ultimately it was going to take his death on the cross, but his death would mean nothing to anyone who was not born again. If people are still dead in their sins and refuse to be reborn in the spirit then his death has no effect on their end, it is still their choice, just as Adam and Eve had. Being born again, which we will see in the rest of this narrative between Jesus and Nicodemus, is a moment it time, just as a natural birth in the flesh is. We are not morphed into being born, it happens in instant, we are in the womb, and then we are out breathing, crying having been born into a family of man. Likewise we cannot morph into being a born again believer in Christ, it is a moment in time, we are in sin and in an instant we are out, breathing, crying, living as a member of the family of God. We cannot transition into being a believer; it is a transformation, out to in. What a blessing to be born again, to have a new life in Christ, to once again have the rights to be heirs to the Kingdom of God. What a joy it is to be born again.