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Birth

by Jerry Ousley  
5/23/2008 / Christian Living

I was privileged to be present at the birth of both of our children. I was in the birthing room when they passed from my wife's nurturing body and made their entrance into this world. It was an honor and a privilege. Now I didn't "cut the cord" or do any of the other things fathers do today in the birthing room. It scared me enough just holding the hand of this lady who was experiencing so much pain that I thought she was going to squeeze my hand off. You've also got to remember that I'm just barely out of the generation of fathers who paced nervously in the waiting room expecting the doctor to emerge at any moment announcing that you are the proud father of a baby boy or girl.

Birth is a special event. We normally put most of the emphasis regarding pain on the mother (and rightly so), but I'd bet that baby isn't cozy and comfortable either. I mean, think about the process; that's got to hurt! Birth is how we come into this world.

We Christians talk a lot about being "born again." A significant conversation went on in John 3 when Nicodemus, a Jewish leader, paid a visit to Jesus one night. He had heard Jesus speak. What this man had said poked at the heart of Nicodemus. He had to know more. He didn't want the other Jewish leaders to know anything about it; after all, if they were right in their belief that this Jesus was a false teacher and was only trying to stir the people, he didn't want his peers thinking badly of him. So he waited until nightfall and made his way to where Jesus was staying.

Nicodemus started out his conversation much the way he would have greeted a dignitary, with compliments and social grace. More than likely he was expecting the same treatment from Jesus. I mean, he was a Jewish leader paying a visit to one who was considered a common individual. But Jesus seemed to change the subject and go straight to the point. He knew why Nicodemus had come to see Him. So He simply said, "This is highly important; unless a man is born again literally regenerated he can't see the Kingdom of God." There it was. We must be re-born.

When Nicodemus heard this he asked Jesus in so many words, "How can a man be re-born? Is he required to go back into his mother's womb and experience birth again?" To which Jesus responded that we had to be born of the water and of the spirit. The water referred to the natural birth. In our mother's womb we are surrounded by fluid. That water has to be released when we are born into this world. This was the birth of water.

But Jesus introduced a new fact to our birth. He added that we had to be born of the spirit. In other words our human spirits, dead until regenerated by Jesus Christ, had to be brought back to life. Our spirit's died in the Garden of Eden when Adam and Eve, our original parents, disobeyed God, sinning against Him. Their disobedience forced God to put a curse upon the entire creation. That curse included death. Adam and Eve didn't die immediately like they had thought, but their spirits' did. We are only worthy of the Kingdom of God once our spirits' have been revived. That was the second birth the bringing back to life of our own spirits' by the presence of God the Spirit The Holy Spirit taking abode in our lives. He makes us a new creation. He restores us to completion. He makes us re-born. That birth can take place at any stage of our lives. We may be young - just able to understand this, or we may be old and advanced in years. But each and every one of us, regardless of age, race, sex, or social status must be born again. We must experience a brand new spiritual birth.

Jerry D. Ousley is the author of ?Soul Challenge?, ?Soul Journey?, ?Ordeal?, ?The Spirit Bread Daily Devotional and his first novel ?The Shoe Tree.? Visit our website at spiritbread.com to download these and more completely free of charge.

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