Reborn

What does it mean to be "born again"? Does that mean that that you have to actually be born a second time? How is that even possible? Where does that term even come from?

This past week at the Sr. District Camp I was at there was a...discussion...about what this means and what the importance of it really may be. One of the people involved in the discussion was of the mind set that the term "born again" isn't really all that important. After all it is used only one time in the Bible in a conversation between Jesus and Nicodemus . Jesus tells Nicodemus that in order to see the kingdom of Heaven one has to be born again. Here is the thing on this as far as I am concerned (and one of the other counselors at camp make this point as well) Jesus is the person who said it, who coined the phrase if you will, so that is really all we need. If Jesus said it, and we are trying to live a life that exemplifies Him and his teachings, then if he says we need to be born again, then we need to be born again.

Here is my take on what happened at camp though. It has more to do with the terminology than the actual concept of being born again. I really think that the first person in all of this simply has a problem with the terminology "born again" rather than the truth behind it. Here is what I mean by that: There are certain terms in our language that simply aren't the best for conveying what is actually meant. This in some ways is one of those terms. People hear "born again Christian" and the Hollywood idea of what that means comes to mind. That image is one of a person that is a goober, a Ned Flanders type if you will. Someone who is judgmental, "holier-than-thou" and doesn't believe in "fun". In that case I can see where the problem lies with the use of that term.

When we look at the truth behind the term, we begin to see that it means so much more than what we usually have in mind. The truth of this means to be changed. It means that we are no longer the old person that we were before Jesus and the Spirit found us and changed us. This same truth is found, worded differently, in 2 Corinthians 5:17 where Paul is talking about what a changed life looks like. The old us goes away and in it's place there is someone new.

We have an example of this truth in nature itself. It is what happens when a caterpillar becomes a butterfly. The caterpillar begins as one thing and then through a series of events becomes something new and different. This is a great illustration of what the idea of being "born again" is really about.

In the end really the term means very little. Regardless of what we call it, the truth is the same: unless we have accepted the life transforming, rebirthing power of Grace through Jesus and the Spirit we are still stuck as the old caterpillar.

Peace, Grace & Love.