Hi, and welcome back. My schedule gets busier and busier, and I share the posts not as regularly as I would like. Even so, our quiet time reflection today remains focused on the will of God- It is God’s will that all be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth, 1 Timothy 2:3-4.

So what does it mean to be saved?

Perhaps you have had someone, a religious fanatic (😉), tell you to repent and be saved, and you have often wondered, what is this person talking about. Being saved means to be born again, to be made into a new person. You may wonder, what is this person talking about? What does it mean to be born again? Even a teacher of the law, a Pharisee, a man named Nicodemus, asked Jesus in John 3:4 if a grown man would need to go back into his/her mother’s womb and be born again?

The answer is no, being born again is being reborn by the Holy Spirit. You might say, “wow” wow, easy there, tiger. ” This is some spiritual stuff, and I do not do all these spiritual things you religious people talk about. Well, here is the good news, my friend: whether you like it or not, you are also a spiritual being, yes, you. The bible says that man is spirit, soul, and body I Thessalonians 5:23. Most of us are only conversant with our bodies and souls (our carnality). We are familiar with our bodies and their senses, which include how our soul (mind and emotion) operates within our world.

But the bible says we are a spirit too. In Genesis 2:7, it says that, Then the Lord God formed a man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being. So here we have that God made man physically from the dust of the earth (hence our physical, earthly body) and his breath, he put his breath, his life, his Spirit into us, it is this Spirit that helps us to be a living soul here on earth. You can see from Genesis 2 here that we can be a living soul or a soul that lives on this earth in our bodies because of the Spirit or the breath of God in our lives.

So man is a physical body (the part we can see), man has a soul (the part we cannot see but feel) that houses his will, emotions, and mind, and man has a spirit (our inner being that has life) too. Okay, if you have been tracking with me so far, then you might ask, then why does the spirit need to be born again? I don’t understand.

Let’s go back to the bible in the book of Genesis 3, popularly known as the fall of man. We read in Genesis 3:1 that Satan, in the form of the serpent, tempted the woman by asking her if they could not eat fruits in the garden. When the woman responded in Genesis 3:2-3, but God did say,  And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat the fruit of the trees of the garden; ³ but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, ‘You shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die.’ ”

Well, he told her in Genesis 3:4 that-  “You will not certainly die,” the serpent said to the woman. ⁵ “For God knows that when you eat from it, your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” If you have read the bible, you will know that she not only ate it but also gave some to her husband, who ate it too. But you will notice something, they did not die, at least not a physical death (until much later in their lives), so at least the devil was partially right about that. But, the bible records in Genesis 3:7 that a change occurred when they ate the fruit- “Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves”.

If we backtrack to Genesis 2:25, it says- Adam and his wife were both naked, and they felt no shame. Then, how come fast forward to Genesis 3:7, they were suddenly conscious of their nakedness, and shame entered them to cover themselves up.

Also Genesis 3: 8-10 says that- ⁸ Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the Lord God among the trees of the garden. ⁹ But the Lord God called to the man, “Where are you?”¹⁰ He answered, “I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid.” Fear entered into the picture, which was never there before, if you read Genesis 2.

So, that means something happened to bring about fear and shame that were not there before. Their disobedience in doing what God told them not to do (which is sin) instantly severed the perfect, innocent, and intimate relationship they had previously shared with Him. There was a death of their innocence, which led to fear making its way into their lives. Before this time, they were never afraid of God walking in their midst; it was not there before, but now, they were afraid. It signaled the death of something pure that was there before and the introduction of new things. Meaning things had changed.

In the old fellowship with God, there was no shame, condemnation, or fear, but pure and intimate fellowship -see Genesis 2:19- 20 – ¹⁹ Now the Lord God had formed out of the ground all the wild animals and all the birds in the sky. He brought them to the man to see what he would name them; and whatever the man called each living creature, that was its name. ²⁰ So the man gave names to all the livestock, the birds in the sky, and all the wild animals. Here signifies perfect harmony in their relationship.

But the new one appears damaged and broken, flawed, something had become tainted. This old fellowship had died, and in its place was something damaged, fractured, impure that was filled with fear and shame.

So the devil was wrong because the pure spiritual nature God created man with that enabled him fellowship intimately with God without fear or shame died, and in its place we got a new nature that is riddled with fear and shame till this day. So man did die; he died a spiritual death. Meaning now, we tend to run away or turn away from God because of this new nature (the fallen nature). It is hostile to God because it prefers its own way. It likes to depend on itself. Self– meaning what it can sense and feel, and depends on that for existence.

So why do we need to be born again? Because we need God. God is the source of our lives, John 1:1-4. And have seen in Genesis that the new nature, the fallen nature, inherited from Adam after the fall, cannot fellowship intimately with God. Why, you may ask, for one, it is riddled with fear and shame (it lacks confidence because it is prone to sin). Our current nature is hostile to God because it is sin-inclined. It is also corrupt and subject to corruption – Jeremiah 17:9 and Romans 8:6-8. You will agree with me that it is much easier to do bad than good in our world today. In fact, sin (reflecting as moral decay) is the order of the day. We give it so many names to present it as good, but we all have a conscience (read the post on conscience) that lets us know that what we now term good is increasingly just evil in disguise.

And the wages of sin is death, Romans 6:23. Which we have just examined in the story of Adam and Eve. They both died a spiritual death, and that spiritual death has been passed down to all of us -Romans 5:12. So, if we do not have the Spirit of God, then we are spiritually dead Romans 8:6.

Also, God is holy and made our initial pure nature for us to be able to fellowship with him. So this new carnal nature that caters to our senses and our soul is not able to connect spiritually with God. Hence, we need a new nature to help us fellowship intimately with Him. So, the will of God that we need to be saved means that we need to be reborn in our spirits.

Being “born again” refers to a spiritual rebirth rather than a physical one. It is an inner transformation brought about by the Holy Spirit, resulting in a renewed life in Christ. This experience involves the rebirth of our spirit, making a person fit to enter God’s kingdom (have an intimate relationship with God). It is not about literally being born a second time, but about receiving a new, God-given nature that replaces the old way of living- John 3:6-8, John 3:16-20.

Jesus addressed this too using wineskin as an analogy in Mark 2:22 and Luke 5: 37-39. He teaches that you cannot put what is new (the reborn spirit) in what is old (the fallen nature of man). Because the new needs a new skin as the old cannot contain the new. The old will bust as it is not engineered to accommodate the new.

It is with this new spirit that we can fellowship with God again without fear and shame, just like Adam and Eve before the fall- Hebrews 10:19-22. Without this new nature, the bible says we cannot fellowship with God, on the intimate level he made us for. This results in a life of perpetual dissatisfaction here on earth and an eternity spent away from God- John 3:18. Not just spent away from God, but where we languish in a place of eternal torment when we die 2 Thessalonians 1:8-9. A place reserved for the devil and his agents.

So for skeptics in our midst, who go, give me a break, “a talking snake,” “a God that sends people to hell.” I say, if you can give “the big bang” or even “evolution” a chance in your life then, believe me, you can give the word of God, the bible a chance.

Perhaps you would like to know more about how we can be born again or saved. The next blog talks about the knowledge of the truth that brings about salvation or being saved.

If, on the other hand, today’s reflection has touched you and you want to become born again or saved, then my dear friend who is reading this, will you accept this gift that God offers?

If you hear the voice of the Lord drawing you to him. Please do not hesitate. The Bible says that no one can come to the lord except the Lord draws him (John 6:65). So if you feel a tug in your heart and feel something telling you to change your ways or to seek God, please do not hesitate; this is the Holy Spirit drawing you to him. Yield to him while you still can and repeat this prayer,

“Dear God, I am a sinner, and I admit that I do things my way. Please forgive me, I believe in you, accept me in Jesus name.

If you say this prayer sincerely and believe it in your heart, then God will make you a new person in your inner being, your spirit. You will be born again and be grafted into the family of Almighty God.

The Bible says if we neglect such a great salvation (Hebrews 2:1-4; Hebrews 12:25), the only thing left is condemnation, which is an eternity away from God (John 3:36, 2 Thessalonians 1:8-9). Trying to please God ourselves is impossible, as our conscience always points to an area we fall short of (read the previous blog – Do I trust God? – Quiet Time blog). But when we accept Jesus Christ as our savior, he comes in and lovingly helps us to know God with the help of His Spirit, the Holy Spirit.

You can also get in touch with me if you want, or even a local church near you. I would love to hear from you. God loves you and stay blessed till next time.