Born Again to Be

"Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, and evil speaking be put away from you, with all malice. ³² And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, just as God in Christ forgave you."

Ephesians 4:31-32

Some are under the impression Christianity is little more than a list of "do's and don'ts" Christians themselves do not always live up to.  This view can be formed due to the personal experience of feeling condemned by professing Christians, the pricking of a  person's own conscience and the changes we observe in people due to personal convictions after receiving Christ.  This really does not begin to tell the story of what Jesus does in transforming a person from within.  It isn't a matter of doing but of being, and verses like this one in the book of Ephesians emphasise this continually.

It would be a mistake to reduce Christianity to following a checklist, as the Law of Moses proved without a doubt man is incapable to keep God's commands.  God gave the Jews His laws so they would realise they naturally were not righteous but wicked, and this awakened their need for atonement, forgiveness and salvation.  Paul said the Law of Moses was like a tutor that led them by the hand to Jesus our Saviour.  When a person believes in Jesus Christ as the Messiah--God in human flesh who died on the cross, rose from the dead and has ascended to heaven--is born again and receives eternal life.  By the power of the indwelling Holy Spirit both Jew and Gentile are then empowered by God to do His will and walk in obedience to Him.

Mankind is born a slave to sin, and it is Jesus alone Who sets us free from the penalty and power of sin.  Because of Christ's life in them, Christians are able to put off the sins of bitterness, wrath, evil speaking and malice because of who God has made us to be.  Notice how Paul wrote, "Be kind to one another."  This is more than showing kindness but being kind, a spiritual transformation having taken place.  As Jesus Christ has done for us, because we are in Him we are also free to do this for others.  Jesus said in Luke 6:36:  "Therefore be merciful, just as your Father also is merciful."  Kindness and mercy demonstrated by Jesus is not something we try to do but the way we are and can be because He is in us.

This "being" is something God desired from His people from the start as written in Deuteronomy 18:13:  "You shall be blameless before the LORD your God."  Jesus doubled-down on this in Matthew 5:48:  "Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect."  We all know we are not perfect, and no amount of effort can accomplish this.  I grew up playing with superhero action figures and read comics that demonstrated the "powers" of each hero.  Superman had x-ray vision, could fly and had incredible strength because he was Superman.  He also had weakness to kryptonite his enemies often exploited.  It was not a challenge for Superman to use his powers, and it was impossible to change his weakness because of who he was and his planet of origin.  The only way for Superman to be able to overcome kyptonite was to avoid it or by the help of others.

This picture of helpless Superman is fitting for all mankind, for we are all born doomed to death because of our sin.  It is only by being born again by Jesus we are made new creations, having been freed from the power of sin and death by our Saviour.  We can now live as the people God has created us to be:  kind, compassionate, forgiving, merciful and perfect in God's sight.  Because we have been changed on the inside, we are commanded to put off the sins of the flesh and intentionally labour to follow the example of Jesus Who always did the will of His Father in heaven.  It is God Who works in us both to will and do of His good pleasure.  People outside the kingdom of God can see the effort we make to avoid sin and the good we do as oppressive rules to follow rather than expressions of the reality of Christ in us and we in Him.  Praise the LORD for the opportunity to be born again, to be free indeed from the tyranny of the sin, the flesh and Satan.