APRIL 2009 EDITION

I love birthdays, especially my own. Not everyone does. I have a friend who absolutely refuses to acknowledge his birthday. Me, I love them. I actually celebrate two birthdays each year. Why do I do this? it is because I have experienced two births. Huh? What is that you are saying? It is true.
I celebrate my physical birth, which took place on December 8th, 1945. (You do the math!) My other birth took place at approximately 8:30 on the evening of April 29th, 1975. It was a spiritual one. It was then that I was “born again”, a term that has somewhat fallen into disfavor as being archaic, connoting a rural Southern fundamentalist. However, being born again is a term that Jesus used in a night-time meeting in which a Pharisee named Nicodemus was checking out the authenticity of Jesus as a man from God. This incident is found in the Gospel of John, chapter three, verse three.

Interestingly enough, I had little or nothing to do with either birth. Certainly, I was a passive participant in my physical birth. I just “went along for the ride!” In my spiritual birth, I just confirmed what the Holy Spirit was prompting me to realize, that I was a sinner. I could not save myself. I needed a Savior. I realized that Jesus paid the penalty for my sin on the Cross some nineteen hundred and seventy-six years ago. On that night in 1975, I confessed (agreed with God) those facts. I acknowledged, by virtue of the fact that I was a thirty year old man who was conscious of the fact that I had been born again, that I was a new creation, as it says in II Corinthians, chapter five, verse seventeen, “Therefore, if any one is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!”

Here is an interesting slant on the “two birthday” deal. Not everyone who acknowledges Christ as Savior and Lord has two birthdays. Many of my friends and relations cannot point to a specific time and place where they acknowledged their need for a Savior. Many point to the time when they were confirmed in the Church as that time. Many say it was when they went through a believer’s baptism as an adult. But many more, who were raised in a Christian home, cannot remember a time when they did not know Christ as Savior and Lord.

For some of, you only know of your physical birthday. You have questions about whether or not you have two birthdays. You have looked at the person of Jesus Christ. You know a lot of facts about the Christian faith, especially if you were born in the South! You are sort of interested, but kind of scared about this “new creation” thing. Is God going to change me into some kind of religious nut case? Let me say that God wants you to become the best person He created you to be. He wants you to experience life to the fullest as it says in The Gospel of John, chapter ten, verse ten, “I have come that they may have life and have it to the full."

Do you sense that you are not at peace? Do you need to feel loved just as you are, not as you should be? Do you feel that there is something more to life than just chasing the dollar? Do you feel a certain emptiness in your life? Do you feel that there is something more to life than what you are currently experiencing? I did, prior to that night in 1975.

If you are not sure today that you have been born again, you can experience your second birthday right now and have that assurance. Jesus says in Revelation 3:20, "Here I am! I stand at the door (of your heart)( my paraphrase) and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and (live with him and he with me)( also my paraphrase). How do I do this, you ask? Simply agree with the Holy Spirit who is right now prompting you, as He did me in 1975, that you are a sinner (Choose to do things your way and not God’s way,that you need a Savior (Jesus Christ) and acknowledge that Jesus paid the penalty for your sin, then agree with God (confess) that you are a new creation of His. Then thank Him for making you this new creation.

If you have done this today, let someone know…your pastor, a Christian friend or relative, me (I would love to know!) for it says in Romans 10:9,
“For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved."

God bless you, my friend!


I want to thank all of you for your many years of friendship, encouragement and generous support.
I am blessed to have you as friends