Unless You are Born Again

Genesis 6:5, ‘The Lord saw how great man's wickedness on the earth had become, and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time. After the fall of Adam (not from grace as is usually put) in the Garden of Eden when He rebelled against a life of obedience to God, his nature became sinful (rebellious, disobedience, selfish). It did not take long before the evil became prevalent in the world. Now sin is just a manifestation of the sinfulness of our nature but it is our nature that is sinful. For example, when is a tree a mango tree, is it when it produces fruit that it is called a mango tree or is it even before it produces fruit. Of course the tree is a mango tree even before it produces the mango fruit. The fruit is just the manifestation of the nature of the tree and so it is with the nature of man, you are sinful not because you sin but because that is your nature. Now the nature of man is not gained from the world after birth by exposure to sin (Genesis 8:21, ‘…every inclination of his heart (man) is evil from childhood.’) but it is inherent and inherited from our parents and has been passed down from the first man (Adam) made by God after he became sinful through his disobedience for he bore children after his fall. God is holy and righteous and hates sin and whoever is sinful and has sin in him cannot go before His presence for he will die. No amount of good deeds will change your nature from its sinfulness. The only way for you to be sin free is for your sinful nature to die and for a new nature, in the likeness of God to be born in you (John3:3, In reply Jesus declared, "I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again."). God in His infinite wisdom provided a way for you and I to be born again. He sent Jesus (John 3:14,15, ‘Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life.’), so that by our faith in Him and His work at the cross, by the grace of God, you and I may enjoy the gift right standing before God and enjoy His presence for ever (Romans 5:17, ‘For if, by the trespass of the one man, death reigned through that one man, how much more will those who receive God's abundant provision of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ.) Because God loves us so, He did all this so that we might on our own volition choose life with Him, a life of joy, peace and hope (John 3:17, ‘For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.’). He loves you and He is calling out to you now, “Come my son, come my daughter.” “My peace I give to you.” “If you are weak and heavy laden, come and I will give you rest.” “I will never leave nor forsake you.” All you have to do is run to Him, don’t be afraid, just run to Him and like the father of the prodigal son, who had not only sinned terribly against his father and had squandered his inheritance on riotous living, He is looking for the horizon, waiting for you to come, and He will run to you with arms wide open, and shower you with his love. If you believe in this God that loves you so and you want to share your life with Him. If you believe in His Son and the sacrifice that He made for you at the cross. If you believe that your sins were atoned for by Christ at the cross. If you believe that He died and rose again by the power of the Holy Spirit. Just open your heart to Him, pour out your heart and ask Him to come into your life, surrender yourself to Him, make Him the LORD of your life. Believe with your heart and confess with your mouth that Jesus Christ is LORD and make the choice to call sin as God calls it, sin and to turn away from it from this day forward, then you will get right standing from God and begin the journey to an eternal relationship with a God that loves and cares for you, a God that will never leave nor forsake you, a God that has good plans for you and will always work all things (both the good and the bad) for your good. Praise be to His Holy Name.