Riff's Christian Journal

In the Gospel of John chapter three, Jesus tells a Jewish religious leader that unless one is born again by the Spirit of God not only will he “not” see the Kingdom of God but he will also “not” enter into the Kingdom of God.

The Religious leader is surprised and asks how this can happen? Jesus responds by saying that as the wind blows where it wishes – from where it comes and where it goes – so is everyone born of the Spirit of God – The Holy Spirit chooses whom He wills and we know not why.

So many people believe that man has the power to choose whether or not to be “born again”, and that he can do so whenever he wants. Not so says the Bible.

In the first chapter of the Gospel of John many people will use verse 12 to back up their claim of man’s ability to choose to be saved or not but, they never follow up with verse 13 which explains how this – being born again – happens. Here are the two verses as they read:

Joh 1:12 But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: 

Joh 1:13 Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.

You see, verse 12 without verse 13 is meaningless. Yes, verse 12 says that man can receive Jesus and to believe on Him, but verse 13 tells us that He must first be born again in order to be able to so do. And this act of being born again is “not” done by man’s own choosing (by man’s will) but that it is done by the will of God.

As the wind blows in the freedom it has, to come and go as it pleases, so is everyone born of the Spirit of God.

When Jesus came to the tomb of Lazarus and yelled, “Lazarus, come forth!” Was he able to say, “Yes, I will come forth.” No, God first had to put life into him, in a sense – make him born again, before he could respond. Life always comes before response in a dead person; even in one who is spiritually dead.

In our sin nature that we all have, we are all spiritually dead to God. That is why Jesus told the religious leader that we must be born again or we will not be able to enter Heaven when our life here on earth is finished.

How about you? Have you really been born again and, if you are, was it by your will that you chose to do so, or was it by God’s will who chose you to be born again?

As for me, it was by God’s will that I am born again. He chose me, I did not choose Him .