The New Birth

There is a term used heavily in older Christian cirles that seems to be going out of style.  It brings to mind images of choirs singing old hymns in a little country church.  The term is "born again."  I'm not sure exactly why or when this term fell out of favor.  The thing is, in John 3:3, Jesus says that no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again.  A few years ago, a man offered his testimony in church.  He said that he was in a lot of trouble with police and with a lot of people who were even scarier than the police.  His hair was a bright purple mohawk and his life was hanging by a thread.  He found himself one night standing on the edge of a bridge thinking of how nice it would be to end it all.  For some reason, at that moment, he cried out to God saying, "If you're real, show yourself to me."  He didn't end his life that night.  The next morning, he found himself standing outside of a church - the last place he thought he would ever be.  He went inside and slipped into the back row.  He describes feeling like every eye in the church was staring at him.  As the service continued, the minister began to preach, but stopped suddenly.  "I can't preach," he said.  At this point, this guy thought he must have done something terrible to keep the preacher from being able to preach.  The minister stated that he felt God telling him that there was someone in the congregation who had wanted to take his own life and asked God to reveal Himself.  The hand of my friend with the mohawk slowly went up.  The preacher asked him to come to the front so they could talk. 

"Son, you've made a lot of mistakes in life."

"Yes sir."

"You're scared and you're thinking it might be better to die than go on living like this."

"Yes sir."

"I bet it would be nice to be able to start all over again with a clean slate."

"It sure would."

"Wouldn't it be nice to be born again?"

Since hearing that story, I have a much better idea of what it means to be born again.  What it mean to this man on that morning was a chance to start over.  A chance to begin again.  A sort of reset button.  Now, when we're born again, we know that we may still face consequences for our sins, but divine judgment - NO WAY!  My friend still had to face up to his crimes and he still had to pay off his debts to those scary individuals, but his greatest debt was paid in that moment.  Now that man is a local business man and respected by the community. 

I find myself straying from wanting to talk to people about God, because I'm worried my point will get lost somewhere in the Christian terminology.  I'm worried that they won't relate to what I'm saying.  I hear friends telling people to accept Christ so they can "be a better husband", "be more loving", or "live life to the fullest."  All of these things are products of salvation, but they are not and should never be the motivation for salvation.  Salvation is found in the person of Jesus Christ.  Salvation is not about making bad men good.  It's about making dead men live.  It's about a new birth.  It's being born again as a new creation in Christ Jesus. 

I guess I'm just praying for the holy boldness found in Proverbs 28:1, "The wicked flee when no one pursues, but the righteous are as bold as a lion."  As churchy and as preachy as it may sound to some, I am a born again Christian, and I want to tell others how they can be born again too.