Become Who You Are

Jesus told Nicodemus, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God." (John 3:3) That's where we get that "born again" theme in so much of our Christianese -- the language we Christians speak so fluently even if others don't get it. So John wrote, "As many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name." (John 1:12) That is, contrary to popular thinking, we are not "all God's children." Only those who receive Him get that designation. Only those who place their absolute confidence in Him can be called "born of God" (e.g., 1 John 3:9; 4:7; 5:1, 4, 18)

Now, lots of Christians will tell you -- will insist, even -- that you can be "born of God" with no actual change at all. Well, of course, you're forgiven, but not much else. Scripture doesn't appear to agree with that. John wrote, "Everyone who has this hope fixed on Him purifies himself, just as He is pure." (1 John 3:3) That's an "everyone" term; it leaves no room for "Well, some." And "No one who is born of God practices sin, because His seed abides in him; and he cannot sin, because he is born of God." (1 John 3:9) As we discussed before, that's a "cannot" term, leaving no room for "except." Just on those two points (and there are many more), it would seem that "You can come to Christ and not change at all" doesn't actually make any sense … at all.

When you start from "born again" -- "born of God" -- it makes perfect sense. We are all products of our birth. We are all products of our upbringing. We aren't just hanging around out here without roots or influences; we are someone. And we will express that. So if we are "born of God" as John says, we will express that, won't we? So John says, "By this the children of God and the children of the devil are obvious: anyone who does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor the one who does not love his brother." (1 John 3:10) (Note the uneven parallel, where the opposite of "practice righteousness" is "does not love his brother." We can conclude, then, that the righteousness we are to practice is to love our brothers and the unrighteousness they practice is to fail to do that.) And Jesus (speaking of false teachers) says, "You will know them by their fruits." (Matt 7:16) Same notion.

The Bible teaches that when we receive Christ -- invite Him into our lives as Lord -- we are born again -- born of God. We are a "new creature." (2 Cor 5:17) Our goal is not to become a better person; our goal is to become what we already are -- born of God. Our aim is to be an expression of the Spirit that lives in us. Our purpose is to purify ourselves and act as God's children rather than "the children of the devil." All we really want is to become what we are. Put that way, it doesn't sound as hard as it seems, does it?