“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to obtain an inheritance which is imperishable and undefiled and will not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, who are protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time”. (I Peter 1:3-5)
Maria came up out from the waters of baptism crying tears of joy because she knew Jesus set her free from her sins. She had a brand new life – she was alive again! Mark thought he could jump higher after baptism because the weight of sin was gone. He had a brand new life – he was alive again. Tim had a bounce in his step that demonstrated he had relief from the old life and born again to a new life in Christ.
The air smells fresher. The sky is more beautiful. It’s great to be alive again. It might happen in our conversion to Christ, when by faith we are baptized into Christ and receive the grace of God in the blood of the Lamb. Maybe you’re experiencing that new, clean feeling, when after becoming a Christian you allowed the world to creep back into your daily living, and now you are repenting and turning back to following Jesus. Either way, it’s a beautiful day being close to Jesus and feeling spiritually alive again. We want to stay close to Jesus more than anything else in this world.
Jesus told Nicodemus he needed to be born again (John 3:1-21). Jesus knows eternal life. He even has the water of life (John 4:10). He is the bread of life (John 6:35). He is the light of the world and all who follow Him shall have the light of life (John 8:12). He came for the explicit purpose of giving us abundant life (John 10:10). Jesus is the resurrection and the life (John 11:25-26). Jesus Christ is the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father except through Him (John14:6). The apostle John, nearing the end of his awesome gospel, writes, “Therefore many other signs Jesus also performed in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; but these have been written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing you may have life in His name” (John 20:30-31).
Read II Corinthians 5:14-17 and listen to Alive Again by Matt Maher.
2 Corinthians 5:14-17
For the love of Christ controls us, having concluded this, that one died for all, therefore all died; and He died for all, so that those who live would no longer live for themselves, but for Him who died and rose on their behalf.
Therefore from now on we recognize no one by the flesh; even though we have known Christ by the flesh, yet now we know Him in this way no longer. Therefore if anyone is in Christ, this person is a new creation; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.