Sometimes we see it as born again into eternal life. If salvation is solely emphasized, we reduce our Christ to a ticket broker to heaven. He is more. He is the Light, Life and Eternal Life to all who believe (John 1:4; 3:36). The idea is both being born again and being born from above. We must see and live in such a way as to realize we are born again and born from above into the life, we can only have in Jesus Christ. We must be born again and be born from above into Jesus Christ and all that He gives us through His grace. Born again into Christ is more than just an experience, it is being born again and being born from above into all He was, is and is to come from above.
Thus we are born again and born anew, over and over again as we become new in Christ. “If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature” (II Cor. 5:11). It is a new way of living. It is living guided, empowered and following Jesus from above. Thus we are born and live with the life He shows and gives from above.
When we are born again into Christ, we are changed and transformed by the love of God and the power of the Holy Spirit to love Christ and with His love to love others with that love. We are born again and born from above as we come unto Christ and into the inheritance we have in the redeeming work of Christ.
Being born again and being born from above has to mean something. Either our very life and the values, meanings and directions in our daily living are coming from above or they are not. Born again and being born from above must be evident in the ways we live our days responding openly to the Holy Spirit living in us. When we were seek guidance from the Holy Spirit through prayer or when the Holy Spirit prompts us … we must trust and follow. If we not follow or if we insist on doing things strictly according to our thoughts and feelings, we will end up grieving the Holy Spirit as we resist and refuse God’s presence and ways. Life, nourishment and empowerment either comes from above though the Holy Spirit or it comes from our ways, our minds, our hearts and our sin.
How we see it, is how we will live. Are we born again into Christ or just born again in an emotional experience of guaranteeing eternal life? If we see being born again as a onetime experience alone, it will not lead to fully being born from above. Do they reflect that we actually are born again and born from above or do they simply reflect our words about being born again? Born again and born from above means love like God loves, grace like the grace of God that saves us will be the grace that flows from us.
Being born again and being born from above means we love before all things, all feelings and all actions. God loves us above all things and in all ways. God demonstrates His true, steadfast and unfathomable love to us, by loving us in our sin, in spite of our sin and through all sin to redeem us from all sin. There is no love like the love of God and as we are reborn in His love, we love with His love.
“Jesus answered him, ‘Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.’” (John 3:3, ESV)
Suggested Reading … John 3
