How Do I Become Born Again?

I recently had the pleasure of catching up with an old friend. We had such a good time conversing, but during our time together, I felt a nudge from the Spirit. I was compelled to witness to him about the Lord Jesus Christ. At first, I was puzzled because I’ve known this person for quite some time and assumed he was already familiar with our wonderful Redeemer. That day, I learned a valuable lesson: we should never assume when it comes to a person’s walk with Jesus. I asked him directly if he was saved, expecting him to respond with, “Yes, of course I am.” Instead, he looked at me and asked, “What do you mean by ‘saved’?”

What it means to be saved

God teaches us in Romans 10:9-10 (NLT), “9 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. 10 For it is by believing in your heart that you are made right with God, and it is by confessing with your mouth that you are saved.” Many people hear the word ‘saved’ and think of it in broad terms, often associating it with being rescued from immediate harm or danger. If someone doesn’t see themselves as being in imminent danger, they might not fully grasp the profound significance of salvation and being born again through Jesus Christ.

In truth, there is nothing more harmful or dangerous than spending eternity cut off from the One True Living God, and therefore being in perpetual eternal darkness and despair. It’s a fate far worse than our minds can comprehend, and it is the reality for all who are not saved through Jesus Christ.

God proclaims in Colossians 1:13-14 (NLT) that He has “rescued us from the kingdom of darkness and transferred us into the Kingdom of his dear Son, who purchased our freedom and forgave our sins.” Jesus Christ has made salvation from eternal darkness and damnation available to us, but he will not force anyone to accept this tremendous gift. True love never forces, it gently guides. This is what our precious Lord and Savior does. He’s delighted to lead us into salvation and his magnificent light, but we must be willing to follow his guidance.

We must choose to love God

Genesis 1:26 tells us that God created humanity in His own image. Like Him, we are self-governing, able to make our own decisions and shape who we will become. We decide whether we will be a child of God or a child of satan; there is no middle ground. Jesus Christ makes it clear in Matthew 6:24 (NLT) that we cannot serve two masters: “No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other.” We are not made to be divided in this way.

God has given each of us the gift of free will, and Romans 11:29 (NLT) says, “For God’s gifts and his call can never be withdrawn.” God is all-powerful, all-knowing, perfect and magnificent in every way. He never needs to do a do-over or a take-back. He does things perfectly from the very beginning according to His divine design. He intends for us to have the blessings He offers, and He is faithful to the gifts He gives. He will not override our free will; we must choose to embrace His love and guidance.

God offers us salvation as His free gift, and there is nothing we can do to earn it. Our Heavenly Father graciously offers us the blessing of spending an eternity with Him through Jesus Christ. Because of His great love for us, He grants us the extraordinary privilege and honor of choosing to love Him in return. John 3:16 (NLT) says, “For God loved the world so much that he gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.” Even when we were at our worst, God sent His only Son to save us and offer us eternal life. He did this because His love for us is beyond our understanding. He desires a relationship with every person, and His greatest delight is loving and sharing His Kingdom with us.

We can’t save ourselves

Roman 5:11(NLT) tells us, “So now we can rejoice in our wonderful new relationship with God because our Lord Jesus Christ has made us friends of God.” Through Jesus Christ, God has made us righteous because being righteous is necessary to be friends with God. Romans 3:25-26 The Message (MSG) tells us, “25-26 God sacrificed Jesus on the altar of the world to clear that world of sin. Having faith in him sets us in the clear. God decided on this course of action in full view of the public—to set the world in the clear with himself through the sacrifice of Jesus, finally taking care of the sins he had so patiently endured. This is not only clear, but it’s now—this is current history! God sets things right. He also makes it possible for us to live in his rightness.”

Because of what God accomplished through Jesus Christ, we now live in God’s “rightness”. It’s not because of our own goodness; God alone is righteous and good. We have no righteousness of our own, so God gave us His righteousness through Christ. Sometimes people might say, “I’m not ready to have a relationship with God yet. I’m too worldly, too angry, too sinful, or too this or that…” They might think they are enjoying themselves by indulging in things that please their senses, but that is not how we were meant to live. We were created to walk in God’s Spirit, and only Jesus Christ can truly fill our cups and bring us joy.

It’s a myth that we can make ourselves “okay enough” to come to God. We can’t. None of us can do this. For instance, someone with an addiction to substances might think they’ll turn to God once they’ve given up drugs or alcohol. Yet, they often find that the struggle continues and that they keep disappointing themselves, not understanding why they can’t stop. Others might feel deeply unhappy due to insecurities, anxieties, and fears, spending much of their lives feeling lost. It can be hard for them to believe that God wants a relationship with them, that He loves them in their brokenness, and that He desires to help them. Before we come to Christ, we are all broken and in desperate need of God’s saving grace. We need to be cleansed by the blood of the Lamb. We desperately need the new life that Jesus Christ offers, and God is eager to help us. All we need to do is come to Him and invite Him into our hearts.

You must be born again

In John 3:3 (NLT), Jesus Christ had a conversation with a man named Nicodemus. He told him, “I tell you the truth, unless you are born again, you cannot see the Kingdom of God.” Just as we are birthed from our mother’s womb and have our biological father’s seed, when we accept the Lord Jesus Christ into our hearts as our Savior, we are spiritually born again. To be a child of God, we must be born physically and spiritually. Embracing God’s love through Jesus Christ leads to this spiritual transformation. We receive God’s seed by faith, and the Holy Spirit comes to live inside us. So, to be saved is to be born-again. It is to come alive to God spiritually as His child.

Faith is not magic, and magic doesn’t come from God. It’s not about a ‘kid in a candy store’ attitude, where God gives us anything we want. Faith is believing that God gave His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ, to save all of us. It is believing that our all-powerful, awesomely brilliant and magnificent God can do anything, and through His resurrection power, He raised Jesus Christ from the dead. Believing this truth, repenting from our sins, and asking God for forgiveness transfers us from eternal death to eternal life in Christ.

We’re on this earth to decide who we will be for the rest of eternity, and if we choose God, we must remain committed to Him. We must apologize for the sins we have committed, because sin is an offense to Him. Romans 5:12 (NLT) says, “When Adam sinned, sin entered the world. Adam’s sin brought death, so death spread to everyone, for everyone sinned.” The first man, Adam, sinned and everyone after him sinned as well. As God’s children, we must reject Adam’s disobedience and surrender ourselves to God, allowing Him to guide and lead us.

In John 14:6(NLT), Jesus Christ declared, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me.” The world would like us to believe that there are many paths to get to God. Well, it’s true that there are many paths, but they lead to destruction and idolatry. Jesus Christ is the only path to our Heavenly Father, the One True Living God. If we miss this, we miss life itself. Christ is the Prince of Life, and through him, we can live an eternity with God. Ask Heavenly Father to forgive you for your sins, invite Him into your life, and accept His love in your heart by believing in what He has done for you through Jesus Christ. Confess your belief that Jesus Christ sacrificed his life for your sins, and that God resurrected him from the dead. Once you do this, you are saved and your spiritual journey in Christ begins! ■

Scripture quotations marked (NLT) are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189. All rights reserved.

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