Born Again

I have a NEW life now in Christ Jesus and with Him. Jesus is LORD of my life, in this new life. In fact it is precisely His Lordship that sustains my experience of this NEW, saved, glory I call my “born again” life. I am not alone and I will never go without help! In fact I literally have ALL the help I need, in Him, with Him and by His Holy Spirit graciously living in me and ALWAYS lovingly guiding me to think His thoughts together with Him.

In this new life I am a man worthy of respect and honor. In this new life I am a Rock of strength, stability and steadfastness just like Peter. The Lord Jesus Christ said to Peter “And he brought him to Jesus. And when Jesus beheld him, he said, Thou art Simon the son of Jona: thou shalt be called Cephas, which is by interpretation, A stone.” ‭‭John‬ ‭1:42‬ ‭KJV

There will come many moments of seemingly meaningless monotony with little if any value as you journey through the sea of moments on the surface of forms in this present world of space and time on which you now live in form. As King Solomon noted after searching out meaning through all the vast array of these forms “Vanity of vanities, saith the Preacher, vanity of vanities; all is vanity.” Ecclesiastes‬ ‭1:2‬ ‭KJV‬‬ or “all is meaningless” as it says in other translations. And in the realm of the shallowness of these forms, indeed yes, all is vanity, and all is meaningless ultimately.

Yet when the Lord Jesus came to us He also proclaimed, “The queen of the south shall rise up in the judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it: for she came from the uttermost parts of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and, behold, a greater than Solomon is here.” Matthew‬ ‭12:42‬ ‭KJV‬‬

The testimony of Solomon exposed the vanity of forms, yet the testimony of the Lord Jesus Christ, our Lord, my Lord, was that there is a meaning, a valuable treasure that is not vanity, a pearl of great price, that when the wise man discovered it, he sold all he had to buy that field that had it buried in it.

This treasure of all treasures, this truly meaningful and profoundly valuable treasure was, is and is to come the grace gift of God to mankind which is a mystical union with, in and as one with the Lord Jesus Christ like husband and wife. In this profound and mysterious treasure, all the fullness of all the grace in all of that which we call and refer to as “the Gospel” is fully and completely contained! Herein lies all the fullness of all the riches and glory and grace of all the kindness, love, beauty and power of God for us. It is the treasure of being One with our Lord Jesus… my Lord.

“And why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?” ‭‭Luke‬ ‭6:46‬ ‭KJV‬‬

In living the “born again” life, in newness of life with Jesus as our “Lord” we walk a narrow way. “Even the demons believe, and shudder.” (James 2:19) Yet we have a life in the Lord Jesus Christ that is called out to obey Him as Lord. This obedience is the mark of our true identity in union with Him as a humble bride following the leadership of her bridegroom. “Narrow is the road that leads to life and only a few find it but broad is the road that leads to destruction”, Jesus said. He also told a parable of virgins called to tend the oil in their lamps so that when the bridegroom returned, they would be ready.

Though we indeed have many meaningless moments of forms there is a deeper essence that lies under the surface of all that is which is a profound and intimate union in oneness with the Love that created the whole world and all the cosmos including every life within it in the physical and heavenly (spiritual) realms. This Love came to the world of forms as a Man in time and space whose name was and is and is to come, the Lord Jesus Christ. In and through Him we discover the liberty of His grace to be called sons of God as we believe in Him by His empowering belief in us.

“Him who the Son sets free (from sin, death, misery and Solomon’s ongoing prison of meaningless monotony) is free indeed!” “Come to me and drink!” “Out of me (and you) will flow great rivers of living water 💦!” That water will continually bless us individually and will also be a well for all the nations to come and drink of Him, (the Love that formed the world and even now still holds it all together in His hand), as we simply abide in Him like fruit abiding in the Vine. So it is with us who dwell in Him and bear fruit through obedience empowered by His unending Love and grace to us ultimately demonstrated, communicated and injected into all mankind once and for all at the cross.

Now then since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders us and the sin that so easily entangles and run the race with perseverance. (Heb. 12:1). We run as one who runs in order to get the prize (1 Cor. 9:24)… even though Christ has already won all for us. Yet as we run with whole hearted devotion like this to our Lord Jesus Christ we both express Him and experience Him in ecstasy and fullness bearing glorious luscious fruits of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.

We become a living incarnation of Him, a river of living water bubbling up from within us for us to drink and for all the world to drink as we throw off the sin that so easily entangles, run the race marked out for us and abide in the vine of His love, the wine of His blood and daily bread of His body offered for us. As we consume Him we automatically obey Him, because we are in love.

How else could one smitten with such love as this behave when in communion with the true bridegroom of her heart, but to humbly submit to obey and walk with Him? In this kind love of our Lord and bridegroom, the One whom we are sealed with until that day of redemption for all things in the world of forms, even as we are already seated in that redemption in the deeper hidden essence in Him, we find a peace that surpasses all understanding not on account of anything we have done, but merely and simply because of the Love that He had for us and continually has had for us now also.

Luke 6:42 - 49 (KJV)

42 Either how canst thou say to thy brother, Brother, let me pull out the mote that is in thine eye, when thou thyself beholdest not the beam that is in thine own eye? Thou hypocrite, cast out first the beam out of thine own eye, and then shalt thou see clearly to pull out the mote that is in thy brother's eye.

A Tree and its Fruit (Matthew 7:15-23; Matthew 12:33-37)

43 For a good tree bringeth not forth corrupt fruit; neither doth a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. 44 For every tree is known by his own fruit. For of thorns men do not gather figs, nor of a bramble bush gather they grapes. 45 A good man out of the good treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is evil: for of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaketh.

The House on the Rock (Matthew 7:24-27)

46 And why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say? 47 Whosoever cometh to me, and heareth my sayings, and doeth them, I will shew you to whom he is like: 48 He is like a man which built an house, and digged deep, and laid the foundation on a rock: and when the flood arose, the stream beat vehemently upon that house, and could not shake it: for it was founded upon a rock. 49 But he that heareth, and doeth not, is like a man that without a foundation built an house upon the earth; against which the stream did beat vehemently, and immediately it fell; and the ruin of that house was great.

Grace and peace! ❤️ -Will