Uncategorized 
No Comments Born Again
Becoming a Christian is referred to as being born again. What does that mean? We come into this world self-absorbed out of necessity. Most of us want to raise children to be interested in the needs of the world around them while at the same time being confident in their own self worth and value.
We may be of value to ourselves and others but not to God. We’re not born God-centered and that is what separates us from him. Jesus said if we love our family, neighbors, or things more than him, we are not worthy of him. If we loved God, he would be first in our lives; that’s not the state we’re born in.
We are born loving whatever is fanciful to us. We love certain people. We love to travel, homes, prestige, fame, power, comfort; we love ourselves. Now it’s OK to be confident, to be successful, to love people. The problem lies in our love affair with this world. We are born separated from God. We are born of flesh with a dead spirit.
Our spirit is what is eternal and we are dead in our trespasses and sin. We need to be born again, raised from the dead. It is then that we become God-centered. We love him, want to please him, believe him, and seek time alone with him. He becomes our lover. Pleasing him becomes more important than our spouse and children. We’ve all heard the phrase, “happy wife, happy life”. It’s great to treat your spouse well but sometimes pleasing God gets in the way of keeping others happy. We become yes men for the sake of not rocking the boat. God wants to rock your world.
Being born again means that the old ways are gone, all things become new. Our desire is to please God. Everyone and everything must be at best in second place. But we aren’t to ignore them. We’re to encourage them to abandon the life of sin and follow along with us, fellow laborers in God’s service. But even if no one goes with us, we still go.
Our modern world has made possible a life of comfort, ease, and hope. We aren’t quite inclined to need a savior. And a savior from what? We’re nice people, aren’t we? What’s Jesus mean when he says we are poor, naked, and blind? Without God, we are poor, we have no inheritance. Like Adam and Eve, we are naked. God sees every blemish, every sin. He created the world as perfect and we have deeply marred the image we were created in. And we are blind, blind to how we have hurt him, dishonored him, and refused to give him the glory he deserves as the creator of everything.
Being born again gives us a desire to return to Eden when God walked with man and man loved God with all his heart, soul, and mind and Eve as much as he loved himself.