“He chose to give us birth through the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of all he created.” –James 1:18
Kristen and I have been able to experience a lot of our friends bringing children into the world recently. It’s a wonderful time to celebrate new life. We have also been able to witness many people coming to Christ through our church, and as Jesus says, they are ‘born again’ into salvation that comes from God.
We use that phrase ‘born again’ a lot. We generally use it only to refer to an experience that we encountered when we were baptized or when we ‘asked Jesus into our hearts.’ But the truth is that while we celebrated the births of those children recently, those babies are just starting to live. Their parents will not just celebrate they day they were born, but they’ll keep celebrating as they learn to roll over, take their first steps, say their first words. It won’t stop there. They’ll celebrate when they graduate high school, when they get married, and then they’ll really celebrate when they have their first grandbaby.
When God gives us birth, it isn’t just a moment or a breath of life. Rather, it is the walk of a lifetime. James says that this birth takes place through the ‘word of truth,’ or through Scripture. The rest of this passage speaks about how the Word of God changes our life.
Is the life that God has given you a distant memory about a religious experience, or is it something that you’re still celebrating as you live out your faith? We all have periods of stagnancy. I experience them way too often. However, God is faithful to continue to work in us and through us by the Word of God, so that we might keep celebrating with every step of new life that we take.
What is the next step that God has for you to take?
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