Birth.

I was born on November 26, 1984. On that day, I emerged from the comfort of darkness into the blinding light. I am told it was not a pleasant experience. Apparently, birth is painful. There is blood. There is screaming. You would think you were witnessing Death rather than Life.

See, birth is not a simple transaction. You can’t just sign a card and walk out with new Life all bundled up and warm in your arms. Birth is messy. Bringing new life into the world is no simple, sterile matter.

So when Jesus tells Nicodemus that we must be born again (John 3 – Read it again for the first time!), he is not talking about a label we can stick to our car bumper. He’s not talking about a simple transaction, where we can fill out a card or say the right words and walk out with New Life. Where my first birth was the chaotic transformation from the womb to the world, Jesus calls us into another birth. At my first birth, I came out looking a lot like my mother. But the second birth is about making me look more like the Father. This is the work of his Spirit, delivering me from my comfortable darkness into the light.

As far as I can tell, the second birth is every bit as messy as the first one. Rather than saying that I am a “born again Christian,” maybe I would say that I am being born again, as we speak. And it is often very painful. Sometimes it feels much more like Death than New Life.

On my birthday, as my mom tells the story, they bring me to her. And I am beautiful, of course. I am clean. Her heart is swelling with otherly-love. And she is celebrating how we will never be apart. This life has come from her, and it is good.

I think this is a tiny glimpse into the New Life that is available through Christ. The Spirit draws us out of ourselves and into Him. We become beautiful. We become clean. Our hearts swell with otherly-love.

There is a celebration. A feast. Because the one who was lost has been found. The one who was Dead has been Born Again.

With love,

a young shepherd.