New Beginnings Start With the New Birth

“Jesus answered him, ‘Truly, truly I say to you, unless a man is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.’”

— John 3:3

The spiritual life is in some ways analogous to the physical. In our physical lives we are born, we grow, and we die. In the spiritual world it is also necessary for us to be born and to grow, but we never die. Jesus said, “…whoever believes in Me has eternal life” (John 6:47).

The Christian life begins with a new birth. Jesus declared it as the great imperative. He said, “You must be born again” (John 3:7). I think of an evangelist who came to a town and preached on that very text, and he said, “You must be born again.” The next night the crowd regathered and he preached “You must be born again.” And the third day again, “You must be born again.”

Finally, one of the elders said to him, “Sir, why do you keep preaching on the text “you must be born again”?

He replied, “Because you must be born again.”

Have you? Have you experienced that life-transforming change that only God by His Spirit, through faith in Jesus Christ can bring about? As the Bible says, “Therefore, if any man is in Christ, he is a new creature. Old things have passed away. Look, all things have become new” (2 Corinthians 5:17). That is what is meant by the “new birth.” That is the new beginning of the Christian life.

Dear Lord, it is such a privilege to be born again, to know that although I have messed up, I can be forgiven and can start afresh. Thank You that the old is gone and the new has come…

BY GOD’S STRENGTH, WE CAN
SEE THE KINGDOM OF GOD.