Regeneration

 One of the many great things that happens to us when we receive Jesus Christ as our Saviour is that we’re granted lasting spiritual life. The Bible tells us that, without Jesus in our lives, we’re spiritually dead. In John 5.24 Jesus said, “I tell you the truth, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned, he has crossed over from death to life.” As odd as it sounds, we begin life spiritually dead. But when we invite Jesus into our hearts we become spiritually alive. This act of God by which He grants us spiritual life is called ‘regeneration’.

Regeneration is more commonly known as being born again, or experiencing a spiritual rebirth. Jesus once told a curious man named Nicodemus that, in order to get into heaven, he would have to be spiritually reborn. John 3.3 records Jesus' conversation, saying, “I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again.” Regeneration is essential if we’re going to go to heaven. We must be born again. We must have spiritual life.

But how do we get that spiritual life? How does regeneration work? To begin with, we know that there’s nothing we can contribute to regeneration. We were born spiritually dead, remember? Being spiritually dead, we can’t perform any spiritual resuscitation. Regeneration must be an act of God, a gift that He gives us. After all, only God can create life, including spiritual life. Paul put it this way in Ephesians 2.4-5. “But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions, it is by grace you have been saved.” So regeneration, being made spiritually alive, is an act of God prompted by His grace.

Even so, not everyone receive this gift of spiritual life. Regeneration is linked with our faith response to the work of Jesus Christ on the cross. John 1.12-13 says, “Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.” We’re born again when we receive Jesus Christ. When we believe in Him, that is, when we put our faith in Him, He grants us new, eternal, spiritual life through an act of regeneration. We become alive for the first time in our lives! Our new life is far better than anything we could have experienced apart from Jesus Christ. That’s why Jesus said, in John 10.10, “I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.”

Let me invite you to receive Jesus Christ by faith right now. Then you, too, can have this new, lasting, abundant spiritual life.