Quiet Time #4 - Born Again
"Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new has come!" 2 Corinthians 5:17 (NIV)
In John chapter 3, Jesus told a Pharisee that he has to be "reborn" to see the Kingdom of God. And even with all the Pharisee's long years of studying Scriptures, he could not understand what this meant. In fact, there are probably only one or two other Pharisees who were actually "reborn", and Christians know one of them as the Apostle Paul.
Isaiah 43 and the Book of Hebrews and Revelations 21, all talk about this theme of "making all things new".
Jesus, as narrated in the Gospels and the writings of Paul talk about this "newness".
And this change does not happen because we will it to happen or that we have been good or that we happen to do some sort of new year's resolution to better ourselves. No, this change happens in the inside and is made possible by the Spirit of God; yes, a change from the inside out.
And really, a new believer would know that he has become "new" or has been "reborn" when he himself notices that his old (sad/mad/bad/tad/fad) nature is gone, and that he is a "changed" person. The final test is when other people actually notices this change themselves.
And this is why the bible tells us to be ready when someone asks us about our new Christian hope -- to always be ready to explain it, but cautions us to do so with gentleness and respect -- less our old nature overshadows our new one. The new has come, thus the old is gone. And anything we say or do will reflect that, as we reflect the Holy Spirit living inside us.
Scriptures say, anyone who is set free is free indeed. We say, if you are new, you are new indeed.
And if you are, you will know it and others will notice it too. It is not something to understand but it is something to experience and others to wonder about.
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