John 3:3
Jesus replied, “With all the earnestness I
possess I tell you this: Unless you are born again, you can never get
into the Kingdom of God.”
The
Living Bible copyright © 1971 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by
permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois
60188. All rights reserved.
Spring
is filled with birthdays in our family. Two of our great nieces, Erin
and Caitlyn, have birthdays in March. Today is my husband’s birthday,
and our great-nephew Chase will be eleven in two more days. Timothy
will turn six on May 13th, step-niece Mecayla will be 19 the following day, our great-niece Ellie Grace will be a year
old on the 24th, and Zola will be four on May 31st! We are grateful for
each person represented – and the family members and friends whose
birthdays we celebrate the rest of the year. In some fashion, we will
mark each and every one of these special days.
Our physical
birthdays are supposed to be celebrated and noted with festivities,
gifts and significant rituals and traditions. But let’s not forget that
for all its importance, this “birthday” is not the one that really
matters. Okay, sure…you can’t have one without the other. Were there
not a human “birth day”…there would be no opportunity to be born again.
But let’s not split hairs here.
For every party, candle, card,
gift, tradition, greeting with well wishes, and other activity designed
to celebrate these births, we should be even more jubilant and excited
to celebrate our “new birth in Christ.” I’ll be honest…I cannot tell
you my exact “born again” date – and you may not recall yours, either.
And that’s okay. Let your actual birthday suffice as a “dual celebration
day,” if necessary. But let’s be sure to celebrate the day that Jesus
wiped away our sins – and our tears – once and for all. Let’s revel in
the joy and confidence that we are destined for the Kingdom of God
because of our decision – and our commitment - to follow Jesus.
As
our young children, friends and family members give their hearts to
Christ and are born again, let’s revel in the knowledge and confidence
that we will all be reunited someday in Heaven. And let’s make sure that
every person in our circle of influence understands that this “second
birthday” is the one that really matters for all Eternity. Let’s be
sure that we share the way to Salvation through the blood of Jesus
Christ with each of them. Let it never be said, “I wish I had told more
people about Jesus…I wish I had helped more people understand the
importance of being ‘born again’.”
We are right to celebrate
birthdays…to mark the passage of time and commemorate the birth of each
honoree. But we must keep these milestones in perspective and make sure
that there are TWO birthdays to celebrate…one that reflects on the past
– and one that more significantly looks toward the future. The best
“birthday gift” is the assurance of an eternal home in the Kingdom of
Heaven. Have you secured yours? Do you have two “birthdays” to celebrate?
©2015 Debbie Robus
Showing posts with label why must I be born again. Show all posts
Showing posts with label why must I be born again. Show all posts
Daily Devotional for April 29, 2015
1 Peter 1:23
For you have a new life. It was not passed on to you from your parents, for the life they gave you will fade away. This new one will last forever, for it comes from Christ, God’s ever-living Message to men.
The Living Bible copyright © 1971 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
I’ve been scanning old photographs recently…and taking a trip down “Memory Lane” in the process. As I look back over the years at pictures of my family members, I’ve thought a lot about how certain people have played significant roles in my life…special times we have shared…and the “life lessons” they have provided.
My own parents have been “accomplished” in many ways. My dad was talented and creative…and he never met a stranger. Half of the wrought iron and metal work in this county was probably created by my daddy in his welding shop – and designed on a paper napkin as he ate a bologna sandwich for lunch! He could literally put out fires as a volunteer fireman, or console grieving families in his role as a funeral director. My dad was the ultimate jack-of-all-trades…and I thought there was nothing that he couldn’t do.
Countless children got their “start” at the feet of my mother as she taught kindergarten, both in our home and then in the public schools. She is responsible for the musical foundation of more than one accomplished pianist or organist, including the woman who been the heart and soul our local public school music program for over 40 years. Mother is a well-known and respected writer… author of seven books to date. “Granny”, as the kids call her, is known for her tuna casserole, chicken pie, pimiento cheese and sweet potatoes with marshmallows. And she is a “documented” dog lover. Countless people know her as the lady whose dogs walked HER all over town!
My parents gave me a wonderful start in life…and I am proud of both of them. But they gave me something else that is far more important…an example of what it means to have New Life in Christ. In recent years, I have gained a new appreciation for how both of my parents embraced Jesus and served Him…not only through service to their church and its missions – but in the community at large. None of us is perfect, but my parents both have reputations for loving and encouraging others, demonstrating tremendous faith and courage in the face of crises and difficulties, and recognizing that their New Life in Christ is the one that truly matters.
Here’s the thing…we can have great parents who give us tremendous examples of how to live well. We can be nurtured, encouraged, trained and inspired by them and other “parental figures” in our lives…and we can turn out to be pretty great people, by all accounts. But if we are not reborn in Christ Jesus, none of it matters. You can have the best parents in the world, but if you don’t claim your place as a child of the Most High God, you can’t truly “live”. And we must “pay this forward” and encourage others to invite Jesus to live in our hearts…and join His heavenly family, as well.
I am so very grateful for all that my parents have given me. But at the same time, I am even more indebted to Jesus for what HE did for me…how He suffered, bled and died for my sins…how He came to earth to show us how to truly live. And I am convicted that we who are His children are called to tell others about the New Life that Jesus offers…to encourage others to be reborn in Him and secure THEIR place at His heavenly table forever and ever.
The question we have to ask ourselves is which life we are living…the one our natural parents gave us…or the one secured for us by Jesus Christ. Your answer matters…for all Eternity. Which “life” will you choose?
©2015 Debbie Robus
For you have a new life. It was not passed on to you from your parents, for the life they gave you will fade away. This new one will last forever, for it comes from Christ, God’s ever-living Message to men.
The Living Bible copyright © 1971 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
I’ve been scanning old photographs recently…and taking a trip down “Memory Lane” in the process. As I look back over the years at pictures of my family members, I’ve thought a lot about how certain people have played significant roles in my life…special times we have shared…and the “life lessons” they have provided.
My own parents have been “accomplished” in many ways. My dad was talented and creative…and he never met a stranger. Half of the wrought iron and metal work in this county was probably created by my daddy in his welding shop – and designed on a paper napkin as he ate a bologna sandwich for lunch! He could literally put out fires as a volunteer fireman, or console grieving families in his role as a funeral director. My dad was the ultimate jack-of-all-trades…and I thought there was nothing that he couldn’t do.
Countless children got their “start” at the feet of my mother as she taught kindergarten, both in our home and then in the public schools. She is responsible for the musical foundation of more than one accomplished pianist or organist, including the woman who been the heart and soul our local public school music program for over 40 years. Mother is a well-known and respected writer… author of seven books to date. “Granny”, as the kids call her, is known for her tuna casserole, chicken pie, pimiento cheese and sweet potatoes with marshmallows. And she is a “documented” dog lover. Countless people know her as the lady whose dogs walked HER all over town!
My parents gave me a wonderful start in life…and I am proud of both of them. But they gave me something else that is far more important…an example of what it means to have New Life in Christ. In recent years, I have gained a new appreciation for how both of my parents embraced Jesus and served Him…not only through service to their church and its missions – but in the community at large. None of us is perfect, but my parents both have reputations for loving and encouraging others, demonstrating tremendous faith and courage in the face of crises and difficulties, and recognizing that their New Life in Christ is the one that truly matters.
Here’s the thing…we can have great parents who give us tremendous examples of how to live well. We can be nurtured, encouraged, trained and inspired by them and other “parental figures” in our lives…and we can turn out to be pretty great people, by all accounts. But if we are not reborn in Christ Jesus, none of it matters. You can have the best parents in the world, but if you don’t claim your place as a child of the Most High God, you can’t truly “live”. And we must “pay this forward” and encourage others to invite Jesus to live in our hearts…and join His heavenly family, as well.
I am so very grateful for all that my parents have given me. But at the same time, I am even more indebted to Jesus for what HE did for me…how He suffered, bled and died for my sins…how He came to earth to show us how to truly live. And I am convicted that we who are His children are called to tell others about the New Life that Jesus offers…to encourage others to be reborn in Him and secure THEIR place at His heavenly table forever and ever.
The question we have to ask ourselves is which life we are living…the one our natural parents gave us…or the one secured for us by Jesus Christ. Your answer matters…for all Eternity. Which “life” will you choose?
©2015 Debbie Robus
Daily Devotional for April 25, 2015
John 3:1-7
After dark one night a Jewish religious leader named Nicodemus, a member of the sect of the Pharisees, came for an interview with Jesus. “Sir,” he said, “we all know that God has sent you to teach us. Your miracles are proof enough of this.”
Jesus replied, “With all the earnestness I possess I tell you this: Unless you are born again, you can never get into the Kingdom of God.”
“Born again!” exclaimed Nicodemus. “What do you mean? How can an old man go back into his mother’s womb and be born again?”
Jesus replied, “What I am telling you so earnestly is this: Unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the Kingdom of God. Men can only reproduce human life, but the Holy Spirit gives new life from heaven; so don’t be surprised at my statement that you must be born again!
The Living Bible copyright © 1971 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
“Clean enough.” That’s become my motto in recent years. I’ve said before that I used to be something of a “clean freak”. Everything had to be scrubbed every week…from the kitchen to the bathrooms to dusting the furniture and vacuuming the floors. I even had a little entryway floor in one home that I stripped and re-waxed on a regular basis…polishing it to a high sheen!
When Timothy first came along, I thought I had to really clean before he visited. Then as his visits grew more frequent – and for a longer time span – I realized that I could not keep up with this schedule…and that it was more important to spend time playing with him than making sure every crumb was off our floors! Certainly by the time Zola and Nathan arrived, I had “lowered my standards” tremendously!
I know a woman who was so obsessed with cleaning that she almost cried when someone made “tracks” across the carpet after she had vacuumed. She loved those “carpet marks” that the vacuum makes! She also mopped her floors every night before bedtime…and she scrubbed the fixtures in her bathroom so much that the cleaner she used literally ate through the chrome and began to disintegrate them!
Now I know you are wondering what this has to do with being born again! See, we can be super clean…but that doesn’t make us better people – better mothers, fathers, wives, husbands, aunts, Sure, it doesn’t hurt to be “good”…and we are called to be moral and upright, kind and loving, and all of those other things that fit this description.
But what truly marks us…what really matters…is that we are “born again” with the spirit of God in our heart. How do we do this? We stop and ask Jesus to forgive our sins…we recognize that HE ALONE has the power to do this…and we admit that we cannot accomplish this of our own accord. We invite the Holy Spirit to dwell in our hearts…to live and breathe in and through us…to guide us and walk with us each step of every day. We take on a “New Life in Christ Jesus”…and we surrender to His will and ways.
This is easy AND complicated, all at once! But this step is what is missing in the lives of so many “good” people who just cannot seem to get it together – and don’t know why. I am asking you today to surrender completely to the love and power of Almighty God through the blood of Jesus Christ. Let Him fill your heart, mind and soul…be “born again” in Him and truly become a child of the Most High God. Your house won’t instantly be spotless…but your heart and soul will be!
Spotless houses are highly overrated…but pure hearts that belong to Christ are to die for…and that’s exactly what Jesus did for you and me. Won’t you give Him your heart today…and secure your place in God’s Kingdom for all Eternity?
©2015 Debbie Robus
After dark one night a Jewish religious leader named Nicodemus, a member of the sect of the Pharisees, came for an interview with Jesus. “Sir,” he said, “we all know that God has sent you to teach us. Your miracles are proof enough of this.”
Jesus replied, “With all the earnestness I possess I tell you this: Unless you are born again, you can never get into the Kingdom of God.”
“Born again!” exclaimed Nicodemus. “What do you mean? How can an old man go back into his mother’s womb and be born again?”
Jesus replied, “What I am telling you so earnestly is this: Unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the Kingdom of God. Men can only reproduce human life, but the Holy Spirit gives new life from heaven; so don’t be surprised at my statement that you must be born again!
The Living Bible copyright © 1971 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
“Clean enough.” That’s become my motto in recent years. I’ve said before that I used to be something of a “clean freak”. Everything had to be scrubbed every week…from the kitchen to the bathrooms to dusting the furniture and vacuuming the floors. I even had a little entryway floor in one home that I stripped and re-waxed on a regular basis…polishing it to a high sheen!
When Timothy first came along, I thought I had to really clean before he visited. Then as his visits grew more frequent – and for a longer time span – I realized that I could not keep up with this schedule…and that it was more important to spend time playing with him than making sure every crumb was off our floors! Certainly by the time Zola and Nathan arrived, I had “lowered my standards” tremendously!
I know a woman who was so obsessed with cleaning that she almost cried when someone made “tracks” across the carpet after she had vacuumed. She loved those “carpet marks” that the vacuum makes! She also mopped her floors every night before bedtime…and she scrubbed the fixtures in her bathroom so much that the cleaner she used literally ate through the chrome and began to disintegrate them!
Now I know you are wondering what this has to do with being born again! See, we can be super clean…but that doesn’t make us better people – better mothers, fathers, wives, husbands, aunts, Sure, it doesn’t hurt to be “good”…and we are called to be moral and upright, kind and loving, and all of those other things that fit this description.
But what truly marks us…what really matters…is that we are “born again” with the spirit of God in our heart. How do we do this? We stop and ask Jesus to forgive our sins…we recognize that HE ALONE has the power to do this…and we admit that we cannot accomplish this of our own accord. We invite the Holy Spirit to dwell in our hearts…to live and breathe in and through us…to guide us and walk with us each step of every day. We take on a “New Life in Christ Jesus”…and we surrender to His will and ways.
This is easy AND complicated, all at once! But this step is what is missing in the lives of so many “good” people who just cannot seem to get it together – and don’t know why. I am asking you today to surrender completely to the love and power of Almighty God through the blood of Jesus Christ. Let Him fill your heart, mind and soul…be “born again” in Him and truly become a child of the Most High God. Your house won’t instantly be spotless…but your heart and soul will be!
Spotless houses are highly overrated…but pure hearts that belong to Christ are to die for…and that’s exactly what Jesus did for you and me. Won’t you give Him your heart today…and secure your place in God’s Kingdom for all Eternity?
©2015 Debbie Robus
Daily Devotional for March 10, 2015
John 3:5-8
Jesus said, “You’re not listening. Let me say it again. Unless a person submits to this original creation—the ‘wind-hovering-over-the-water’ creation, the invisible moving the visible, a baptism into a new life—it’s not possible to enter God’s kingdom. When you look at a baby, it’s just that: a body you can look at and touch. But the person who takes shape within is formed by something you can’t see and touch—the Spirit—and becomes a living spirit.
“So don’t be so surprised when I tell you that you have to be ‘born from above’—out of this world, so to speak. You know well enough how the wind blows this way and that. You hear it rustling through the trees, but you have no idea where it comes from or where it’s headed next. That’s the way it is with everyone ‘born from above’ by the wind of God, the Spirit of God.”
Scripture quotations from The Message. © 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002 by Eugene Peterson. Used by permission of NavPress, Colorado Springs, CO. All rights reserved.
I love Jesus’ analogy of the wind, because this physical phenomenon is something we all accept and “understand”…yet none of us can explain the origin of its force. And if you think about wind…sometimes it is like a gentle whisper…and sometimes it blows with a rage and impact so profound that the results are devastating…almost beyond belief!
This is how we experience the power of the Holy Spirit in our lives. Some moments, the voice of God is just a whisper…a gentle breeze that brushes over us. Other times, He nearly knocks us off our feet with an experience or event that says, “HEY! Wake up! I’m talking to you!” Just as we readily accept and acknowledge physical “wind”…some of us need to learn to transfer this understanding to the Holy Spirit and how He operates in our hearts and minds.
Timothy sings a song from the movie “Pocahontas” about the “Colors of the Wind”. One of the lines asks, “Can you paint with all the colors of the wind?” Jesus “paints with all the colors of the ‘wind’” of His Holy Spirit. Do you see them in your life? Have you embraced Him and experienced this “born-from-above” breath from God? Do you recognize His presence and the many “colors of the wind” in your daily living? Don’t you want to?
Stop what you are doing and spend some time calling on the Holy Spirit to fill you. Say three simple words…”Come, Holy Spirit!” Listen for the “wind” of God…and learn to recognize it as readily as you do the earthy breezes. Let His love and care blow across your heart like a gentle whisper of wind across your face. Get ready to see God’s kingdom come into focus…maybe for the first time ever. Get ready to fully embrace your “new life in Christ”…and to see all of the “colors of the Wind” in every minute of your day!
©2015 Debbie Robus
Jesus said, “You’re not listening. Let me say it again. Unless a person submits to this original creation—the ‘wind-hovering-over-the-water’ creation, the invisible moving the visible, a baptism into a new life—it’s not possible to enter God’s kingdom. When you look at a baby, it’s just that: a body you can look at and touch. But the person who takes shape within is formed by something you can’t see and touch—the Spirit—and becomes a living spirit.
“So don’t be so surprised when I tell you that you have to be ‘born from above’—out of this world, so to speak. You know well enough how the wind blows this way and that. You hear it rustling through the trees, but you have no idea where it comes from or where it’s headed next. That’s the way it is with everyone ‘born from above’ by the wind of God, the Spirit of God.”
Scripture quotations from The Message. © 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002 by Eugene Peterson. Used by permission of NavPress, Colorado Springs, CO. All rights reserved.
I love Jesus’ analogy of the wind, because this physical phenomenon is something we all accept and “understand”…yet none of us can explain the origin of its force. And if you think about wind…sometimes it is like a gentle whisper…and sometimes it blows with a rage and impact so profound that the results are devastating…almost beyond belief!
This is how we experience the power of the Holy Spirit in our lives. Some moments, the voice of God is just a whisper…a gentle breeze that brushes over us. Other times, He nearly knocks us off our feet with an experience or event that says, “HEY! Wake up! I’m talking to you!” Just as we readily accept and acknowledge physical “wind”…some of us need to learn to transfer this understanding to the Holy Spirit and how He operates in our hearts and minds.
Timothy sings a song from the movie “Pocahontas” about the “Colors of the Wind”. One of the lines asks, “Can you paint with all the colors of the wind?” Jesus “paints with all the colors of the ‘wind’” of His Holy Spirit. Do you see them in your life? Have you embraced Him and experienced this “born-from-above” breath from God? Do you recognize His presence and the many “colors of the wind” in your daily living? Don’t you want to?
Stop what you are doing and spend some time calling on the Holy Spirit to fill you. Say three simple words…”Come, Holy Spirit!” Listen for the “wind” of God…and learn to recognize it as readily as you do the earthy breezes. Let His love and care blow across your heart like a gentle whisper of wind across your face. Get ready to see God’s kingdom come into focus…maybe for the first time ever. Get ready to fully embrace your “new life in Christ”…and to see all of the “colors of the Wind” in every minute of your day!
©2015 Debbie Robus
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