march 27, 2023

“For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven.”

-Ecclesiastes 3:1

If you read the opening verse closely, you may have actually had a song playing at the fringes of your brain.  If you are knowingly smiling at what I’m talking about, then welcome to the old guys club.  If you have no idea what I’m talking about, take a minute to look up a song called “Turn, Turn, Turn” by The Byrds.  We are not going to be talking about that song today, but it just always comes to mind whenever I read the third chapter of Ecclesiastes and I jokingly blame my dad for that.  The song was released in 1965, 13 years before I was born, but my dad was a teenager during this time and this was the music of his youth.  Do you know what I grew up listening to, at least any time I was in the car with my dad, if you guessed 50’s and 60’s music, then you would be right!  This fond childhood memory about a 58 year old song, is something that came to mind a few days ago when I had the first springtime ride of the year.  As I was riding I was thinking about how great it felt to be out on two wheels and experiencing the splendor of God’s glory.  All around me I could see signs of new life, the grasses, the trees, the longer days, warmer temperatures, it all was pointing to the arrival of a new season for all of us who have been waiting for the end of winter.  When I ride, I try to use as much of that time to talk to God, whether in my heart and mind or, many times, out loud but usually with a full-face helmet on because I don’t want people to think a lunatic is on the loose talking to himself on his motorcycle!

As I observed the effects of this new season on the world around me, I naturally began to think about new life in general.  Springtime ushers in so many new things in the world and it’s invigorating.  In the course of my life I have experienced a lot of new beginnings; moving out on my own, graduating college, starting a career, getting married, starting a family, among so many others, but none compare to my rebirth through salvation by grace through faith in Jesus Christ. In a well-known encounter with Nicodemus, a Pharisee, Jesus had this to say:

“Jesus answered him, ‘Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.’ Nicodemus said to him, ‘How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born? Jesus answered, ‘Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.’”

-John 3:3-6

“Unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God…”  Very powerful and, to many like Nicodemus, very confounding.  Jesus was explaining to Nicodemus that if we only experience a physical birth, then we will endure two deaths, a physical death and then a spiritual death when we are cast away from God’s sight forever.  If we are physically born and spiritually reborn, then the only death we will ever endure is a physical death which is followed by an eternity with God.  Jesus made this point very clear.

The new spiritual beginning that Jesus offers is so complete, so all-encompassing, that he called it being born again. It’s not enough to follow a few new rules. Jesus offers us something better: a fresh start.

My own rebirth took place on March 3, 2003 and it is a date that has more significance than my own physical birth 25 years earlier.  Looking back on the man I was, compared to the man I am now, there is no doubt of the regenerative power of salvation.  Maybe one day, I will share my testimony with you but for now, it is sufficient to know that Christ working through me has transformed me into a new creation. Just over 20 years ago you would have never convinced me that I would find myself riding with a Christian motorcycle group, that I would be creating a series of weekly devotionals, that I would ever stand in a pulpit and preach His Word, that the old me would ever die and that I would know true repentance. This is even spoken by Paul in his second letter to the church at Corinth:

“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.”

-2 Corinthians 5:17

Just as he did for Nicodemus, and for everyone else since that time and until His return, Jesus offers you the joy of being born again, the joy of a fresh start at life because of God’s amazing forgiveness and love, all you must do is step out on faith and accept Christ as your Lord and Savior, devoting your life to Him and letting His light shine through you so that others might come to know Him as well.