WHAT IT MEANS TO BE A BORN AGAIN CHRISTIAN
It is important that as we live our lives on this earth, we should also think how we live it, whether we’re living the life that God created us to live in his kingdom on earth which will ultimately make way for us to spend eternity in God’s glory, or we are living a life imposed on us by the enemy of God which will lead to spending eternity in hell with the devil hereafter.
Because everyone living on earth came into this world as a sinner, the only pathway to regaining our glory and back to God’s original plan for us is to become “Born-Again,” to have a new life that ushers us into God’s kingdom both while on earth and after we die.
In the bible book of John Chapter 3: verse 3 Jesus replied to a Pharisee whose name was Nicodemus and said: “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is “born again”, he cannot see the kingdom of God.”
In verse 4 Nicodemus said to Jesus, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?”
And in verse 5 to 8 Jesus answered:
“Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.
“That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.”
“Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’ “
“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.”
So this is more of a spiritual exercise than that of physical. It is a way of focusing our mind more on the spiritual aspects of life.
Some people who claim to be Christians may as well claim to have been born again, but being a born again person transcends a religious ritual or ceremony whereby someone will just repeat some declarations that they have received Jesus Christ as their personal Lord and Saviour thereby claiming to have been qualified to be a “Born-again” Christian.
To be born again entails a spiritual exercise that transforms our fleshly birth to that of spiritual birth whereby our hearts and minds are rebooted to godly mode where we become more aware of the spiritual things according to the will of God than conforming ourselves to the worldly norms.
Someone may still be confused about being born again, but this is further more clearly explained in the Bible book of Romans Chapter 12 verse 1 to 2 where Paul admonished the Romans on how to be born-again and live a life worthy of God’s calling and glory.
Verse 1: I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service.
Verse 2: And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.
So this is the way to be born again, to surrender your body and make it holy the way God expected it to be, and then to avoid following the trends of this world and be mindful of the things that God desires other than the things that our flesh and the world around us demands. To renew our minds and think of those things that are pure and clean, and appealing to God our creator.
When our minds become conformed to the things of God, it will be hard for us to fix our minds again to the things that will make us enemy of God, and that is when we will be able to understand the mind of God.
In Romans 8: verse 6, it says: “For to be [b]carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. 7 Because the [c]carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be.”
Verse 8: “So then, those who are in the flesh cannot please God.”
Verse 9: “But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His.”
Verse 10: “And if Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is life because of righteousness.”
Verse 11: “But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies [d]through His Spirit who dwells in you.”
When we become born again by renewing our minds, then we are able to live the life according to God’s original plan for us even before we were born. Our mind will automatically change and we start to bear fruits of righteousness that is pertinent of the children of the Kingdom of God. Our body will become the real dwelling place of the spirit of God, as we keep our body holy as the temple of the most high God.
The first step to coming into the kingdom of God and living a glorious life according to God’s purpose is to receive Jesus Christ as your Lord and Saviour and then you are sure of eternal life with God, and as well living in the kingdom of God. Second step is by renewal of your mind by conforming to the mind of God other than the world.
Romains 12: verse 3 says: “For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith.”
If you’re already a Christian who has confessed Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Saviour, you can always evaluate to know whether you are born again by the renewal of your mind and setting your mind on the things of God – being spiritually minded other than carnally minded.
In the Bible Book of Philippians chapter 4 verse 8, it says:
“Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy—meditate on these things.”
