Born Again?
John 3:1-21 New King James Version
3 There was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. 2 This man came to Jesus by night and said to Him, “Rabbi, we know that You are a teacher come from God; for no one can do these signs that You do unless God is with him.”
3 Jesus answered and said to him, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.”
4 Nicodemus said to Him, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?”
5 Jesus answered, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. 6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. 7 Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’ 8 The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit.”
9 Nicodemus answered and said to Him, “How can these things be?”
10 Jesus answered and said to him, “Are you the teacher of Israel, and do not know these things? 11 Most assuredly, I say to you, We speak what We know and testify what We have seen, and you do not receive Our witness. 12 If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you heavenly things? 13 No one has ascended to heaven but He who came down from heaven, that is, the Son of Man who is in heaven. 14 And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, 15 that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. 16 For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. 17 For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.
18 “He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. 19 And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. 20 For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed. 21 But he who does the truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be clearly seen, that they have been done in God.”
Born Into Sin
I wanted to use just one scripture, but when I began to read, this entire passage was so good and so important I had to use, and talk about, it all.
We are all born into sin. We all have human fleshly, selfish wants, desires. The thing is that we have to be born again in the Spirit, His Spirit, to be changed from the things we have been born into. We have been given a very unique and easy opportunity compared to those in the Old Testament. That had to give sacrifices and do ritual after ritual every time they even thought about doing something wrong.
I Was Born This Way
It makes me think about the state of our world today and the fact that we have people claiming to be born in the wrong body, or the wrong era, or even those who believe they were born to marry someone of the same sex. God’s word says that we must be born again.
That doesn’t mean have sex changing surgeries or live out desires that are an abomination to the Lord. It means to submit everything you feel and everything you think you are to Him and allow Him to change you into who He created you to be. Is that a sacrifice? Of course it is but it’s less of a sacrifice than God giving His only son to be a living sacrifice for the sins of the entire world (John 3:16).
Be Careful
We should be careful in how we handle people that do the things I’ve mentioned above. As Christians we have a responsibility to lead with love and teach the word of God with kindness and humility. That doesn’t mean we pretend their lifestyle is ok, but it does mean that we remind them what His word says and that He loves them. Those kinds of lifestyles are sinful, but Jesus came that we may have life and have it more abundantly. He came that we could live free of sin and death.
Share the Word of God today and remind people that He died so we could be free.
Romans 10:9 nkjv- 9 that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.
**Lord thank You for Your sacrifice. A living sacrifice that gives me the freedom to follow You, to praise and worship You whenever, wherever and however I want to. Remind me that You have created everyone in Your image and it is not Your will that any man should perish. In Jesus name I pray, Amen. **
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