Jesus told us through His word that we have to be born again. Charles Colson was a rat. He would be the first to tell you that. He was Nixon's hatchet man. Well he was thrown in prison with a few others from the Nixon administration....and this former marine....tough guy....if I remember correctly from his best-selling book....Born Again....sat in his car one night before going to jail....his life in ruins....and he cried....and he cried out to God....and was gloriously born again!
So just what is this being....born again? Well there are a few ways to go about answering that. There is the doctrinal way that describes what happens to the man or woman....whereas righteousness is imputed to them....not infused or poured into them. There is the operative way that tells how it is all of grace....that your works do absolutely nothing in this....operation....for anyone....a Buddhist or a Hindu or anyone can do very good works. And there is the experiential way....or what does that man or woman experience when they are born again.
That is what I want to attempt to answer in this paragraph. Speaking for myself....there was a time when I knew that I was not a good person. I wasn't sure there was a hell....and if there was one I wasn't sure that God would send me there. I did absolutely nothing at that point. God for some unknown reason other than He tends to have mercy on the lowest of the low....regenerated my heart. I was now not spiritually dead....but I was not spiritually alive either. God started a work and was going to finish it....for He always finishes His work. I saw that I was going to hell before I even knew for sure that there was a hell. I knew that there was no way to avoid this....and then I saw that God had provided a way....believe in what Jesus did on the cross....in paying for something that I could never pay for. Imagine if you will....the exhilaration of such a situation....on the gallows....and then taken off the gallows! I could now see Jesus whom before I could only attest to believing in. His Word....all of a sudden....became understandable....like a child who first learns how to read. I was previously on a pedestal....but I got off fast....and looked....and Jesus was on that pedestal in all of His glory! I looked around.....figuratively speaking....to my left and to my right....who can I tell? I have to tell someone...."I gotta tell somebody"....as the old Don Francisco song put it...."what Jesus did for me!"
There are variations of this....but only variations in how to describe it. If you cannot look back and say that you at least understand every word that I just said....then you must drop everything and go to God to find out why....why are you.....figuratively speaking again....why are not able to peddle the bike and keep it from falling....for it is so simple. Something is missing that you must have!
