THE WONDER OF RE-BIRTH

What does it Mean to be Born Again

Being born again means: ‘ … so that it is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me’⁸⁴. This means that Jesus’ life becomes your life. From now on the love of Jesus becomes your love. His joy becomes your joy. His wisdom becomes your wisdom. His patience becomes your patience. His kindness becomes your kindness. His strength becomes your strength. His victory becomes your victory. His nature becomes your nature, and so on. You are continuously connected to a source which will never dry up: Jesus Christ. The apostle Paul summarized it as follows: ‘For to me to live is Christ!’⁸⁵.

Being born again is comparable to a modern-day heart transplant. The deathly ill heart – hardened by sin – is replaced by a new, warm heart: the heart of Jesus. And because the Holy Spirit, who is called the Spirit of Jesus, has come to live in us, then we can do what He asks us to do⁸⁶. Isn’t that awesome? As soon as you are born again, you receive the heart and the Spirit of Jesus! Jesus’ heart is beating inside of you⁸⁷!

When you are born again, the Holy Spirit has planted the life of Christ in you. Then the new life grows and reveals itself ever stronger in you, so that the image of Jesus becomes more and more visible in your life. That is what Paul means when he speaks of the contractions which he goes through for the church, until Christ is formed in her⁸⁸.

From now on there is no sin too big to conquer, there is no temptation too great to withstand. For is there some sin which Jesus cannot conquer? Is there some temptation which Jesus cannot resist?