I don’t remember the day I was born. I’m pretty sure that my Mom always did, as well as the months leading up to it. It’s kind of strange to think that I was alive before I was born. We don’t celebrate our first birthday when we’ve been out of the womb for three months, even though we were alive for nine months before that. I guess the key phrase is “birthday”. At birth, there is no physical change in form or even function, but with birth comes a change of location, and enhancement of capabilities not possible in the womb. Oh, and change… lots of change.

As Tim meets the King, I think he’s been alive for about fifteen years. Up to this point in the book (chapter 8 of The Bridge from OneDayBow), Tim has seemed pretty much alive to me; he sure has all the signs of being alive in HereAndNow. So, what does the King mean by saying, “Now, you live!”?

It seemed that very moment that everything was changed.
Had the brain cells in his head somehow been rearranged?
The tempters’ lies and schemes were exposed by what is true:
The King’s Son gives new life when His Nooma lives in you!

Wow! What a great moment for Tim! What an amazing change! New life by His Nooma!

I’ve heard some believers in Jesus say, “I’m the biggest miracle I’ve ever seen.” I feel the same way! I have no doubt, had God not graciously intervened in my life, and given me new life by His Spirit living in me, I would be a very different person… actually, I would be the same person that I was before I was born again! Alive, but not fully.

Born again? Have we talked about that yet? Just in case I haven’t, what is the best way to explain being born again…? Of course! I’ll let Jesus do it. You might want to open your Bible to John, chapter 3. It tells of a meeting at night that Jesus had with a religious leader named, Nicodemus. Here are Jesus’ words from verses 5-8:
“Jesus replied, “I assure you, no one can enter the Kingdom of God without being born of water and the Spirit. Humans can reproduce only human life, but the Holy Spirit gives birth to spiritual life. So don’t be surprised when I say, ‘You must be born again.’ The wind blows wherever it wants. Just as you can hear the wind but can’t tell where it comes from or where it is going, so you can’t explain how people are born of the Spirit.””

Unexplainable, but undeniable for those of us who have experienced this new life that God gives. When we enter into a relationship with God by trusting Jesus to forgive our sins, you could say that He births us spiritually!

I had the extraordinary joy of leading my husband, Bill, to the throne of God in prayer over twenty years ago, on the night he asked Jesus to forgive His sins and be Savior and Lord of his life. I’m still struck when I recall the “overnight” change in him. He looked the same on the outside, but he suddenly realized the absolute truth of God’s existence and it changed him in a profound way. It was nothing short of new life by the Spirit of God!

When the Holy Spirit entered his life, Bill also woke up to the reality of something else, just as Tim did. But, that will need to wait until next time.