One of the first things on the mind of a New Christian after accepting Jesus and having repented of sins is ..."Ok,...Now what? Well, this "repentant" heart will lead to a MOST important process in the growth as a Christian. The process of being
"Born Again"
John 3:5-7 - “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.’. It gets You in the starting block of the Race. The start of a Christian journey.
And Why is being "Born Again" so important to the New Christian?
because if You are "born again" You will start to change! In this authors humble opinion, "change" is greatest observable attribute of being "Born Again".
Maybe, the journey It all starts in a subtle way. Your friends call You up to go clubbing...but somehow that invitation is not so inviting this evening. In fact You'd rather visit Your ailing Mother or get back in touch with a long lost good Soul that you'd wronged in the past.
Or how about...Speaking Your usual everyday lie to Your Wife, but then all of a sudden for the first time...feeling so guilty that You break down in resentment privately.
...And for some the change is dramatic. The next day after Your life changing experience...after 10 years of trying to quit alcohol...You suddenly quit cold turkey. Or, You are tormented daily with demonic whispers, but all of a sudden after crying out to Jesus...the voices stopped!
Story after story of lives being changed and Souls being saved. These inspirational stories are often ridiculed and rejected by an unbelieving world and therefore remain personal and private to believers ONLY. ...but such are the ways of being "Born Again". It is a process (often a slow one), one that might take 3 weeks, 3 months or 3 years, for that Christian to manifest observable change. But no matter, this is still true...You must Change!
This will offend some of You, but if Your still hanging on to Your old self, (the lying, cheating, gossiping, stealing...adulterous, homosexual...or Whatever Sin is Your weakness) You are in grave danger My Friend. Oh Yes, Not my words...But Jesus, whom You say You worship.
See for Yourself what Jesus had to say about being "backslid" and living a life of continuous sin:
Matthew 7:21-23 -
21“Not everyone who says to Me, †‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who †does the will of My Father in heaven. 22“Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we †not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ 23“And †then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; †depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’
There it is My Friends, if You think that being a Christian is about having liberty to continue in sin because "God will always forgive me". You are being decieved and in grave danger of being rejected on the day of judgement.
Brothers and Sisters, there are no two ways about this
lawlessness is SIN
1st John 3:4 - Whoever commits sin also commits lawlessness, and †sin is lawlessness.
...~ but wait...how about this one???
Matthew 7:19 -
19†“Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.
...again...Not my words...but the Lord Jesus Christ!
Look... I'm going going to cut the chase right now...as I can't mince with words here...
If You want to follow Jesus...You cannot and will NOT stay the same. You have to increase Your Faith!
Note: I won't lie to You...You will be hated...so expect it...but You will have Jesus!!! We are and will be judged by how close we walked with Our Lord Jesus Christ while we were here on Earth.
Have You ever thought about why We go through so much in this drama called life yet Our time on this Earth goes by in the blink of an eye? The people of the world will often wonder why time flies and whats the point of a life so short and quick? But never discerning that Father God, wants our time here to be short in order to show that this world was never intended to be our final destination. But only a testing ground.
Friend, There is no shortcut, there is no other way. We must increase.
You must be "Born Again" so that You can BEAR FRUIT. Bearing Good Fruit You see is
something the Lord will be looking for.
Matthew 7:19 - 19†“Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.
If You DO NOT bear GOOD fruit, You cannot walk through that Strait Gate (AKA...The Narrow Gate)!
...and to bear GOOD fruit, You can be on Your way to be just like Him.
It all starts with this one Word