Key Verse: For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God. – 1 Peter 1:23

Each one of us is born with a problem. We may have the greatest parents, the best healthcare and everything we physically need, but scripture teaches in Psalm 51:5 that we are all born spiritually dead and enemies of God, “For I was born a sinner—yes, from the moment my mother conceived me.” God created us to enjoy life in Him, but as a result of Adam’s rebellion, death entered into the world. Consequently, the moment we are born, we are physically alive, but also spiritually dead.

We often describe ourselves in various ways, but one word no one ever uses is “dead.” But before we are in Christ, the life we have is limited; it is a false security and comfort that blinds us to our true need.

Paul writes in Ephesians 2:1, “Once you were dead because of your disobedience and your many sins,” but he continues with the good news in verse 4-5: “But God is so rich in mercy, and he loved us so much, that even though we were dead because of our sins, he gave us life when he raised Christ from the dead.”

When we are born again in Christ, we shift from being merely physically alive to both physically and spiritually alive. Jesus said to Nicodemus who was a ruler of the Jews and an Old Testament Scholar in John 3:7, “You must be born again.” Not, “I suggest it,” or, “Your life would improve by it.” but you must! It is 100% necessary if you want to see the Kingdom of God.

Before new birth, we were heading toward eternal judgment for our sin and eternal death, but at the new birth, the promise is, “…whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” (John 3:16). We are now born again into God’s very family, John 1:13 says we are “children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.”



