What is all this "born again" stuff, and what does it mean?

“People have said that to me before, but how has your life changed? Why are you so different?” The woman sitting across from me yesterday continued, “I’ve heard people talk about “it”, and I can see “it” in you. I want “it”, so how can I get it?’

I did my best to explain, but I had help…

We started in the beginning. We started with The Garden of Eden…everything in it was perfect. Adam and Eve had complete access to God. They were free to walk and talk with God, (Can you imagine that? It must have been great. After all, it WAS paradise). Things in the garden were going great until Adam and Eve disobeyed God…they ate the fruit He specifically told them not to eat. All bets were off, and God banished them from the garden. They sinned. This is where our trouble began. The floodgates were open to all kinds of evil, disease and death … all because of one man’s sin. It is because we’re all descendants of Adam and Eve, that we’ve inherited their sin nature. (You can read about this in Genesis 3).

God made everything and everyone for Himself, so He could love us, and so we could be with Him forever. But something went terribly wrong. This “sin” thing separates us.

So how could God “fix” this? How in the world are we going to be able to know God, and walk with Him again?

Here’s the answer: “For God so loved the world, He gave His Only Son, and whoever believes in Him will not perish but have everlasting life.” (John 3:16)

I explained to her that “believing” doesn’t mean just to intellectually know about Him… it means to confide in, trust, and love Him.

Then I showed her Romans 10: 9-10 which simply says, “If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is believing in your heart that you are made right with God, and it is by confessing with your mouth that you are saved.”

Then an incredible thing happened…she got it! Somehow, God broke through. It was like a lightbulb went off in her head. She then did what Romans 10: 9-10 said. She confessed Jesus as Lord…as HER Lord. What a privilege to witness her pass from living in darkness to living in the light! She was reborn! Right then and there…her eternity changed.

I’d like to end this blog post with the words of Jesus, “The closer you listen, the more understanding you will be given – and you will receive even more. To those who listen to my teaching, more understanding will be given. But for those who are not listening, even what little understanding they have will be taken away from them.” (Mark 4:24-25)