Being Born Again, The Death of The Flesh

In my church, we are studying the Gospel of John, and I felt it is important for me to be on the same page as my “spiritual body” as far as my writings go. For it is in the first chapter of John, that we are given some great spiritual insights into the nature of God and are relationship with him.

John does not wast any time proclaiming that indeed Jesus is God, and he has always existed. God even created the world though Jesus! Then, when it came time for God to redeem the world He allowed his Son to become flesh. He sent a prophet to prepare the way for this event. This was John The Baptist who's purpose was to proclaim that Jesus was indeed the one who the scriptures predicted. Then, as Jesus came on the scene, he created quite the stir with the leaders of the Jewish people.

I have often imagined what it was like when Nicodemus met with Jesus in the dark of night. After all this was a big wheel who was well verse in religious law and had much clout in the political arena. For that was the roll of Pharisees in that day. I am sure that he dressed very inconspicuously and was doing everything he could to keep a low profile. It was also clear by the way he responded to Jesus that he had much respect for him and thought that he had been sent by God.

Nevertheless, Jesus does not waste any time dropping a bomb on Nicodemus by saying that there is no chance what so ever of seeing the “Kingdom of God” unless one is born again! Of course this confused the heck out of this learned man, for he could not perceive how this was physically possible. It was then that Jesus asked him why it was so hard for him not to see that a spiritual transformation had to happen. After all, this was a man well versed in scripture and he still could not grasp the importance of what Jesus was trying to impart to him.

One of the things that kept me from becoming a Christian for so many years , was that I was convinced there had to be a better way. So I turned over ever stone I could find, tried drug after drug mantra after mantra. Got the Holy Poop scared out of me from experimenting with complex rituals and Astral Projection techniques. I had talked myself into believing that it was useless to try and change, for I would always fail! By the way, I was right. There is no way that it is humanly possible to stop sinning! Our best efforts will fall short every time, it is only possible though the power of the Holy Spirit living in us. Or in other words, being born again. Another thing I discovered was that just like in life, having a spiritual rebirth is much like being a new born baby.

It is just the beginning of spiritual journey that will (hopefully) last a life time. I say hopefully, for “dropping the spiritual ball” is something that is so easy to do! The reason why this is that we our flesh, and as the Apostle Paul stated, the flesh is weak.

One thing I have discovered that the more I open to spiritual things, the more I find “The ways of the world” starting to loose its meaning and appeal. I still find myself hanging on, to those things that use to have such a power over me. This rebirth has been a slow process and not at all painless. Even with all of this, God has shown time and time again, that he has not given up on me. The more I seek him the more He shows me his love. This love has not been sugar coated, and has not magically changed my life. For God does not force himself on a person, the spiritual growth depends on how much we surrender.

This remind me of a song done by The Carpenters, when I was young. The Song is “Love is Surrender.” In fact there is one line in that song that sums it up for me, “you must surrender if you dare!” For it is true, it takes courage and faith to say “God your will be done, not my will!” This is something that needs to be done on a daily bases, the conscious surrender of our will to our father. Yes, this was another thing Paul speaks about, dying daily. When you really put it in perspective, Christ was will to die for us, he surrendered to death its self and then defeated death!

In the same way, we are joining our Saviour, Jesus, in that eternal life he promised us! For it is the obsession with the things of this world that leads to death. It though the rebirth of water and spirit, that gives us the inheritance promised to us when we become adopted by God to be his Children! It is a gift that is given freely from God and yet, there is also a responsibility for us to share this gift with others.

For if we are to truly be the children of God, we must take on the attributes of God. In fact my Pastor has challenged those in our congregation, to develop a mission statement. To know with out a shadow of doubt, what are lives are all about. After much prayer, I realised that my Mission Statement is as follows..."To Seek the Truth, then live it." That is why I write the material I do, I want to get to the heart of the matter. I want to to understand what I believe and then share it with others. I do not desire to be guilty of what some would call "Bible thumping" and instead I desire to come from the heart and speak of the things that the spirit gives me! That is my story and I a sticking to it!