Twice born..Once dead

All we humans are complex, differently unique and created by God. The two things we all
have in common are being born and facing death. I don't remember my birth in much detail, and that's probably a very good thing! In a previous blog entry I called the birth process Miraculous, and I stand by that assertion!

One of the things I found most odd prior to truly accepting Jesus into my life was the concept
of being Born Again. Like the man who questioned Jesus about the idea of retuning to the womb,
I found the concept almost amusing. I believe that Jesus makes it perfectly clear that this
rebirth is a prerequisite to being a part of God's kingdom. That makes things a lot more serious;
it's a process of changing from lost to saved, from world centered to God centered, from
prideful to humble...I could go on. It's a process performed at the heart level, it's passive
in the sense that it is done to us, not by us. Serious, yet simple in the sense that we simply have
to give our lives over to Christ Jesus.

Now on the other end of things, we all are mortal. The wages of sin is death. All of us will
face this inevitable end, even though we often refuse to accept it until it is happening. Having
a spiritual tie to Christ and to God makes it less fearsome. I truly am no longer afraid of
death, yet I am fearful of the dieing process. The fact that there is the eternal hope provided by
the gospel, that Jesus conquered death in his resurrection and that we are saved by grace to
an inheritance in the family of God, make this end point a lot less fearsome.

But...we do not want to die twice! That second death, yes second death, is the one facing those
who have rejected God. It's the death that follows judgement, the judgement faced by all of us
in the end, where we stand before God on our own merit or on the merit of the Son of God.
We cannot save ourselves from the wrath God holds for our sin, but we can accept
salvation through the atoning blood of our precious savior, Jesus.

As Rich Mullins says in the song,:" Everyman, "  There's room for everyone at the foot of the
cross! I'll see you there!