"Born-again" Christian?

Jesus replied, “I assure you, unless you are born again, you can never see the Kingdom of God without being born of water and the Spirit. Humans can reproduce only human life, but the Holy Spirit gives new life from heaven.”

“Born again” Christian, I had always thought that was an “odd” term before I became one.

Ever try to play games such as Chinese checkers, chess, Cribbage or Mancala without knowing the directions? Ever try to build one of those Lego models without instructions? How about painting a picture of a landscape without knowing the basic principles of perspective, dimension, scale, and color?

Those things would be difficult to do and even harder to appreciate without some kind of knowledge or direction.

That was what it was like before I was a "born again" Christian. I couldn’t appreciate, behave, act or live out a Christian life because had not received the Holy Spirit from heaven. Before I was “born again” I saw Christianity as a religion even though I considered myself Christian. And I only regarded myself Christian because I attended “Christian” churches as a child and believed in God not Buddha, Muhammad or some other god.

I knew some bible stories but the stories didn’t make this collective cohesion that made total sense. I would also try to read the bible but it either didn’t bring much meaning or didn’t stick. Church services… I might as well been wearing earplugs.
It was like I had this great treasure map but the “X” to mark the spot to change my life was invisible.

You could have told me that Jesus is the “X” on the treasure map but it would had made no difference. I would have been blind and deaf to the fact that Jesus was the “X”.

Christianity didn’t start make sense until I was “born again”.

Just as Ananias placed his hands on Saul and he received the Holy Spirit I too had received the Holy Spirit when a woman, a total stranger, prayed and placed her hand on me when I went to church as a courtesy to some family moving out of state . (ACTS 9:17) A new spirit had come within me. Figuratively the Holy Spirit had turned on the lights.

The Holy Spirit let me see the things of God and the importance of the role of Jesus Christ in our lives. He let the words and messages from the bible and our pastor make sense as I soaked them up like a sponge. A tender heart that was receptive to what God was showing and teaching me had replaced the stony heart. In short not only was my blindness and deafness healed but I had been given new life.

The love of the Father God and Jesus had birthed me a new spiritual life by the Holy Spirit.

Isaiah 35:5 “And when he comes, he will open the eyes of the blind and unstop the ears of the deaf.”

Ezekiel 11:19 “And I will give them singleness of heart and put a new spirit within them. I take away their hearts of stone and give them tender hearts instead, so they will obey my laws and regulation. They will truly be my people, and I will be their God.”