Do you remember how it was when you were born into this world? Do you remember how it felt when you were delivered from your mother’s womb? 

No. You don’t. It was a PAINFUL experience. But you had to be born. You had to be delivered in order to live. You existed in a watery environment. It was warm and cozy and comfortable inside. It was secure. You were held in a sometimes bouncy cocoon, stored with your arms wrapped, your feet tucked in, cuddled in a womb that would soon become a death trap if you failed to be born; if you were not delivered. You grew in that warm, cozy, and watery environment until you got so big, it was difficult to really stretch and move around like you used to. You didn’t know that in order to be born:

  • Your skull would be squeezed together to get your head through a hole no larger than 10 cm (approximately 4 ½ inches in diameter).
  • Your once cozy environment would begin to treat you differently and would become seemingly hostile to you.
  • Your body would be squeezed almost to death in ever-increasing frequency.
  • You would move from a watery environment to an air-filled space. Humph! What is air?
  • You would literally be kicked out of the house into God knows where!
  • You would be forever severed from a physical attachment to your mom.
  • You would leave the familiar to go into a far country – to an existence that you would know NOTHING about!

If you were given the choice to be born and realized what it would take for that to happen, I doubt that any would volunteer for the experience. BUT GOD!!! In the fullness of time, He did what He did for you and me to be born all over again so that we could live and not die. In our first birth experience, we had no choice. We were born in sin and shaped in iniquity, at the whim of our earthly parents, but at the foreknowledge of God – The God Who loved us, from the foundation of the world.

Before we were formed in our mother’s womb, God knew us! He knew we would be born into a sin-cursed world, and as such, born to die. And so in mercy, He gave us a second chance (a chance to be born again)–this time by personal choice, and this time, born to live and not die. He is The MIGHTY and MERCIFUL GOD of a second chance!

Let’s go back to the physical analogy of our first birth experience. When we were born into this world, in most cases, we were received with joy! From what would have become a watery grave, God moved you and changed you so that you entered an amphibious existence, with your lungs no longer filled with water. God breathed into your nostrils the breath of life, and you became a living soul. You were given space in which to grow and time in which to choose. Because you were born in sin and shaped in iniquity, God in His mercy gave you space between your birthdate and your body’s death date. That dash called “time” – time to grow physically AND spiritually; time to choose life or death. What choices will you make during your dash in the womb of this world of sin?

We encounter many choices during the dash of our experiences in a sin-cursed world, but the most critical choice or decision that you and I must make relates to Whom we will serve. While you may think you have several options, only One leads to eternal life. All others result in eternal death and damnation. Who and what will you choose? Will you choose to be born again? What’s it going to cost? It’s going to cost you your life. You can choose to live now and die later. Or you can choose to die now and live later. Either way, both choices have eternal consequences.

The body that houses your soul is destined for destruction. And, like the watery grave of your mother’s womb, you must experience a new birth. Come out of a world of sin and darkness, or you will be destroyed with the body. Your new birth, like your physical birth, is a painful experience. It cost God, The Father, the life of His only-begotten Son, Jesus Christ The Messiah (a.k.a, Yahushua Ha’Mashiach). God, Himself, endured that painful process, knowing that it was more than any human could bear. He did it so that you and I could be delivered; so that we could live eternally. But you can’t be delivered while trying to hold onto this world! You’ve got to let it go! The only way out of this world is through Christ Jesus! As the birth canal is very narrow, the best way to be delivered is head first (positioned head-down), bowed in prayer.

As good as life seems at times in this world, we can’t stay here. For those who choose the second birth, your spirit grows in Christ Jesus. Some things that you once found enjoyable and fun and funny aren’t so pleasant anymore. Others may see you differently. You may lose friends that you used to hang out with. Life in this world becomes more uncomfortable as we begin to see that it’s not a bed of roses for everyone, and it begins to bother us. When we speak out against the wrongs that we see, we risk being thought of as a troublemaker; not a team player; a danger and a menace to society because we challenge the status quo. For example, challenging

  • The push to enforce vaccines on everyone despite the violation of their conscience.
  • The closed-minded refusal to promote highly researched health approaches that do not require the quick-fix, money-making, big pharma approach – all in the name of prevention. How ironic.
  • The inequities in healthcare costs and healthcare access driven by greed and capitalism.
  • The blind support of wickedness at the expense of dismantling righteousness in governmental policy and structures.
  • Spiritual wickedness in high places.
  • Racial and social prejudice and injustice from within and without.
  • The separatist, elitist attitudes within our own ranks.
  • Divisions between the haves and have-nots.
  • Money-driven social and political structures that leave more and more people homeless and voiceless.

On top of this, the day-to-day struggles to get through life, holding both joy and sorrow.

Your new birth is spiritual. And, like your physical birth, you will experience growing pains. But you must grow, or you will die. The pains you must endure to be born again require you to die to self. It’s an exchange process that takes place. We give our bodies as living sacrifices to God, and He gives us life eternal through Jesus Christ. You begin to realize, like Paul, “I am crucified with Christ. Nevertheless, I live. Yet not I, but Christ lives in me” (Galatians 2:20, KJV). Stated another way, “The life that I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of The Son of God Who loved me and gave Himself for me” (Galatians 2:20, NRSV). You now live for Christ so that Christ can live in you so that He can be seen in the world. You become a living display for Jesus to be seen in the world so that others can come to know Him and choose life. And how do you do that? By bearing one another’s burdens, by loving one another, by doing for others what you would want others to do for you in your time of need. By speaking up for those who have no voice. By crying out against the wickedness in this world. By alerting others to the dangers of living in sin. “Bear ye one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ” (Galatians 6:2, KJV).

And now, as a living soul who is SOLD OUT on Jesus Christ, it matters not what my physical body must endure. This body will die, but because Christ lives in me and because Christ rose from the grave, I will rise again and live eternally with Him in the new heavens and new earth!

Don’t be tricked by the devil, thinking that you can (independent of God) prolong your life and sustain your good looks or your wealth or your prestigious status in the world. No amount of make-up or make-over is going to halt or prevent the decline of your physical body. And, no amount of money is going to satisfy the deeper needs of your soul.When you’ve bought all that you can buy, and built all you can build in this world, it’s all ultimately going to be destroyed. One day, the world as we know it will be no more – and you must be delivered from it if you want to live eternally.

While I have my being in this life, I will live for Christ so that the souls of those who are among the living dead can be delivered and released from the satanic captivity that holds them; so that they can choose Christ Jesus and live eternally in The Beloved!