Not long ago, one morning I woke up and picked up my restless, four-month old baby boy. He was done sleeping, and by implication, so was I. My wife had also just gotten up, and she was getting ready to face the world. I think this happened over a weekend, so neither of us was in a great hurry.
I was in a humorous mood, so within earshot of my wife I decided to playfully share the rules of being part of our family with my baby boy. Rules that he would have to keep for us to accept him into our home and lives… Obey them and be welcome, disobey and you’ll be kicked out.
I was joking, obviously. Having such rules for a baby would be totally absurd. When we receive a new-born from God, we accept him/her without any conditions. We adjust our lives to accommodate him/her and make huge sacrifices to assure his/her well-being and comfort.
Yes, eventually there might be some ‘rules’ and other education or upbringing aids, but never do we impose these with a sense of “Break them and you’re out on the street.”
When Jesus spoke to those interested (Nicodemus comes to mind first) about becoming a follower of Him, He used the metaphor of being born again. The story about my encounter with my son above gave me great new insights into this metaphor.
When we are born again, we don’t inherit a set of rules that we have to keep lest we be kicked out into darkness again. We get a relationship with a loving Father — through Jesus. We aren’t expected to be perfect immediately. We are helpless on our own in this new way of life. We need nurturing and love and patience. And God provides this for us — inside a relationship.
Just like our relationship with an earthly father, we are expected to conform to certain expectations as we grow up. The longer we walk with God and work with Him, the more we learn and accumulate wisdom. We learn how to be part of God’s plans and God’s work. We learn how to be part of God’s family. This makes claims on our behaviour and determines a wise and unwise way of life for us to choose.
And, unless we reject God as our Father, He will never reject us. God is “… a God of mercy and grace, endlessly patient — so much love, so deeply true — loyal in love for a thousand generations, forgiving iniquity, rebellion, and sin” – Exodus 34, The Message.
However, as with any earthly father, God does not ignore sin, and therefore we shouldn’t think we can make a mockery of Him by willfully living in rebellion instead of embracing his freedom and abundance.
Why don’t you take a minute, sometime today, and just thank God for this new birth, and new life that He has granted you through Jesus? Why don’t you thank Him for being the best Father that ever existed? And… remember to live inside this Father–and–son or Father–and–daughter relationship with Him… every day! He wants to hear from you, talk to you, and take care of you… but He won’t force this on you. It’s up to you.
{ 5 comments… read them below or add one }
Finally somebody who admits that the phrase ‘born again’ is a metaphor. People who teach ‘once saved, always saved’ (also called ‘eternal security’) take it to mean a literal spiritual birth, as though the term ’spiritual’ really meant ‘physical’. They ask ‘can a person be unborn’? They overlook that a person can be disinherited. Being born only suggests a biological relationship. In adoption, what really matters is the parent/child relationship that is not dependent on blood ties or procreation. An inheritance can be re-assigned by the testator to a more suitable heir. If it is inconceivable to you that one day you might have to ‘kick’ your kid out and that you might even have a good and necessary reason for doing so, then it is obvious that you are a new father. I’m not saying you would be able to justly show your kid the door without grief, but that you assume your patience has no limits. In real life, sometimes a doctor has to cut away a cancer to save the body. I hope you never have to come to the place that God has to be at on a daily basis. He still cuts people off from Israel and the promises made to Abraham. Grace and peace, Doug
Hi Doug
I doubt Jesus would make threats like ‘care for the poor or go to hell’ (from Matthew 25 – in my own words) or ‘do my Father’s will or I won’t take you to heaven’ (from Matthew 7 – in my own words) if it isn’t possible to be disinherited, or to be cut off from God’s grace.
Blatant disobedience will not be tolerated. And it was never tolerated throughout the bible.
But Jesus also said that once you believe in Him no one will be able to take you out of His hand. So… I guess it has to do with our level of commitment to Jesus and His cause. Are we putting the kingdom of God first?
Thanks for the comment!
Dries
I would be very careful if I were you as it is false teaching that you are saying that someone can come to Christ and ask for Forgiveness, accept the gift that God has Given us believers and then lose it. I am sorry I don’t agree with you. We are sinners forgiven by Grace. We will sin til the day God brings us home. Nobody that accepts the free gift can lose it. Your salvation is secure. If you are in deliberate sin and continue on that path even when you know and hear Gods voice urging you to turn from it you can not lose your salvation but you certainly will be chastised and lose blessings. God is just But he is also loving. Once a gift is given and that is what Salvation is. A paid done deal that only Christ could do and it is irrevocable. You can’t lose your salvation. Better pray and ask God for more understanding the scriptures are there to confirm this and When I go and find them again I will be back to post my proof.
In Christ’s Love
Michelle
Hi Michelle
Thank you for your comment and the kind manner of raising your concern.
Maybe we can start our search for the Truth by looking at a part of the message given by the Hebrews writer to saved Christians:
“If we give up and turn our backs on what we’ve learned, all we’ve been given, all the truth we now know, we repudiate Christ’s sacrifice and are left on our own to face the Judgment – and a mighty fierce judgment it will be! If the penalty for breaking the law of Moses is physical death, what do you think will happen if you turn on God’s Son, spit on the sacrifice that made you whole, and insult this most gracious Spirit? This is no light matter. God has warned us that he’ll hold us to account and make us pay.” – Hebrews 10:26-30 (The Message)
So… it is possible to lose your salvation. Not merely through struggling to overcome sin (if you are constantly aware of your shortcomings and trying to overcome them), but through turning our backs on Jesus.
Is my meaning more clear now?
Further, Paul also states in Galatians 6:7-8 (again to followers of the Way): “Don’t be misled – you cannot mock the justice of God. You will always harvest what you plant. Those who live to satisfy their own sinful nature will harvest decay and death from that sinful nature. But those who live to please the Spirit will harvest everlasting live from the Spirit.” – The Message.
Again, we need to live our daily lives to please the Spirit. For more on this type of life, see the online learning experience that’s launching soon – trackingjesus.com
I hope to hear back from you…
Dries Cronje
Hi.
I found your Web Site by Google
And I wish you the best you can get,
the peace of God through Jesus Christ.
Welcome to visit my Site.
Allan Svensson, Sweden
http://www.algonet.se/~allan-sv/INDEX.HTM
The Bridegroom comes, Come out to meet him. Matt. 25:6.
From where shall we go out? We shall go out of the great
Babylon, the great whore. Rev. Chapter 17 and 18. This
command of the Lord in Rev. 18:4 is now highly topical.
Never before we have been so nearly Jesus’ coming as we
are now, but how are God’s people prepared? How is the
unity in the faith? Sorry, very bad! God’s people are more
divided now than ever before. Instead of following what
the Bible teaches about the Assembly of God, they have
followed Satan’s false assembly doctrine. They believe
that the Assembly of God is constituted of church systems
and many religious organizations.
Most Christians have not yet begun to prepare for Jesus’
coming. They can speak and write that Jesus shall come,
and about the signs of the time, yet they do not make any
preparation to meet Jesus. How can we make a preparation?
To make preparation and be ready for Jesus’ coming, God’s
people must get the knowledge of the Assembly of God.
All God’s people must in the first hand begin to study what
the Bible teaches about the Assembly of God. What we
need now before the restoration of the Assembly of God,
it is humility before God’s word and a forgivable disposition
to each other.
The Assembly of God is no Pentecostal church. Please,
consider what this expression “the Assembly of God” in the
reality implies. The Assembly of God must be the same as
the Greek word “ekklesia”, and the Body of Christ. 1 Cor.
12:12-31. Then it is easy to understand that this has nothing
to do with the Pentecostal Movement. Pentecostal churches
have existed about 100 years, but the Assembly of God has
ever existed since Jesus baptized his first disciples by the
Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit gave them the new life in Christ
so that they became born anew. Then the Assembly of God
was born.
The Bridegroom comes, Come out to meet him
http://www.algonet.se/~allan-sv/CRY.HTM
Evil spirits in the churches
http://www.algonet.se/~allan-sv/SPIRITS.HTM
The great falling away
http://www.algonet.se/~allan-sv/MESSAGE.HTM
What does hinder the Antichrist to appear?
What is the Restrainer?
http://www.algonet.se/~allan-sv/MESSAGE.HTM#Antichrist
KJV, “the best English Bible” but not perfect
http://www.algonet.se/~allan-sv/KING.HTM
Why did the Pentecostal Revival take an end?
http://www.algonet.se/~allan-sv/CRISIS.HTM
The truth of the baptism by the Holy Spirit and the new birth
http://www.algonet.se/~allan-sv/CRISIS.HTM#baptism
Jesus cannot come today because God’s people are not ready
http://www.algonet.se/~allan-sv/TODAY.HTM