Birthdays

The first week of July is birthday week at our house. It’s our nation’s birthday, as well as our grandson’s, mine, and my son-in-law’s. So there’s plenty of celebration to be had. And lots of red, white, and blue decorations.

I’m not glad to be turning another year older. But I am happy that I made it to this age.  Wow! I’ve celebrated a lot of years! And I have another birthday this month, too. It’s not only the month I was born, but the month I was born again. I don’t know the exact date, but I know it was this month seventy-six years ago.

Jesus talked to Nicodemus about being “born again.” It seemed an odd term to him. But Jesus explained that He wasn’t talking about a physical birth, but a spiritual one. Can you remember the time when you were born again? Some people can’t remember a specific moment, but there is an approximate time in life when they realized that they needed the Savior to cleanse them from the sin that separates us from God. They recognized that Jesus was the only way to have the sin problem removed and eternal life guaranteed.

Jesus assured Nicodemus that he needed more than his religious accomplishments to make it into the kingdom of heaven. He explained it this way: “That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’ …whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved” John 3:15-17). 

A spiritual birth. Now that’s a birthday worth celebrating, no matter how many we’ve had! I wonder why we don’t make more of that occasion. Do you have two birthdays? How will you celebrate them?