A Notable Time When Politics and Faith Intersected

This being another Presidential election year, it seems appropriate to consider something that happened nearly 50 years ago. A new term burst upon the American psyche: “born again.” This came about during the 1976 Presidential campaign when surprise candidate Jimmy Carter declared during numerous interviews that he was a “born-again Christian.”

 

That comment, among others, ignited a media frenzy as political reporters and commentators scrambled for a better handle on the then-Georgia governor seeking the nation’s highest office. Other Presidents and candidates had been known for their religious affiliations, but perhaps never as publicly and boldly as Carter. Meanwhile, the term “born again” soon took on a life of its own.

 

Many people lacked understanding of the phrase or where it had originated, but that didn’t stop marketers from latching onto it for promoting their products, using it as a label for anything innovative. Suddenly we were hearing and reading about ‘born-again cars,’ ‘born-again businesses,’ ‘born-again strategies,’ even ‘born-again churches.’ A vital biblical term turned into an overused cliché devoid of its essential meaning. 

 

Thankfully, hucksterism hasn’t diminished even slightly the spiritual significance of being born again. We first encounter it in the Scriptures when Jesus Christ was approached by a Pharisee named Nicodemus, a prominent member of the Jewish ruling council. Nicodemus desired to get acquainted with this individual he’d heard so much about but wasn’t inclined to do so openly. So, he had requested a private meeting at night.

 

In the biblical account, Nicodemus quickly got to his purpose for meeting Jesus. “Rabbi, we know you as a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the miraculous signs you are doing if God were not with him” (John 3:2). Seems like a reasonable question, right?

 

As was so often the case, Jesus did a sort of “end-around” in responding. “In reply Jesus declared, ‘I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again’” (John 3:3). There’s the term – “born again” – and perhaps like the reporters interviewing Jimmy Carter, a confused look must have appeared on Nicodemus's face.

 

He asked, “‘How can a man be born again when he is old?... Surely he cannot enter a second time into his mother’s womb to be born!’” Jesus gave a straight-forward answer: ‘I tell you the truth, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit. Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. You should not be surprised at My saying, “You must be born again’…” (John 3:4-7).

 

Being a true follower of Christ means to be twice-born – born physically, and born again spiritually. This is why the apostle Paul declared in 2 Corinthians 5:17, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!” Committing one’s life to Jesus doesn’t mean adopting a new philosophy or ideology; it means receiving a new life. The life of Christ living in us by His Spirit.

 

References to being born again don’t end with the gospel of John. In 1 Peter 1:3 the apostle once known as Simon writes, “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In His great mercy He has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.” If anyone understood what it meant to be born again, it was the one-time fisherman Simon/Peter.

 

He addresses this once more in the same chapter: “For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God” (1 Peter 1:23).

 

This does seem to raise a different question, however. Is there a difference between being a Christian and a born-again Christian as President Carter phrased it? Can one be a Christian without being born again? I would contend – as would many others – that the Bible teaches they are one and the same. To use both terms together is redundant. It’s like talking about a canine dog, a feline cat, or a time-keeping clock. 

 

The late Rev. Billy Graham wrote about this, asserting, “Just as surely as God implants the life cell in the tiny seed that produces the mighty oak, and as surely as He instills the heartbeat in the life of the tiny infant yet unborn; as surely as He puts motion into the planets, stars, and heavenly bodies, He implants His divine life in people’s hearts who earnestly seek Him through Christ. This is not conjecture; it is a fact. Has this happened to you? Have you been twice born? You see, the Bible says that unless we have this new birth, we are unfit for the Kingdom of God.”

 

One of the strongest biblical statements about this is Romans 6:4, in which Paul explains, “We were therefore buried with Him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.” It is this new life that empowers us to live as the Lord commands.

God Is All About Making Things New

Just a few days into the new year, we still have an opportunity to focus on making a fresh start, closing the door on 2023 and being excited about some new beginnings in 2024. We might want to continue and build on some of our accomplishments over the past 12 months, but most of us have things we’d like to do differently or take a totally new approach.

Among the “new” things I’d like to be doing this year is spending more time reading and less time on “screens,” whether it be TV or my electronic devices. I want to tackle my stash of books with renewed enthusiasm. Reading requires action; screens foster passivity. It’s time for action.

New things you’d like to do are probably different from mine, but whatever they are, there’s no time to begin like the present. Out with the old and in with the new, as they say. Hope you find much success in whatever your new endeavors might be.

 

But have you ever considered that God is all about making things new? We see this in the very first chapter of the first book of the Bible. “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth” (Genesis 1:1). I believe the “big bang” scientists often speak about can be summed up in three powerful words: “And God said.” 

 

That simple phrase appears eight times in that opening chapter of Genesis, God speaking and creating: Light. Sky, earth and water. Vegetation. Sun, moon and stars. Myriad kinds of living creatures. And finally, man and woman. The Lord conceived what He wanted to create – brand new things – then spoke and it became so. Sounds simplistic, but I’m sure it was anything but that. 

 

God’s desire to make new things didn’t stop there. That was just, well, the beginning. He’s been conceiving and creating new stuff ever since. Take the Ten Commandments, for example. Until then, humankind was governed by an inner moral compass God had instilled, but those succinct commandments embodied how we’re to live and relate, both to Him and one another.

 

As we study the Scriptures, however, we discover the foremost “new” thing the Lord desires to create is you and me. When Jesus went to the cross to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins, that wasn’t the end of the story. Not by the longest of shots. His resurrection not only announced victory over death but also the promise of new life for all who would place their faith and trust in Him.

 

Nearly 40 years ago I was wrestling with what is often referred to as “the Christian life.” I couldn’t seem to get it right, no matter how hard I tried. Then during one life-changing weekend, a friend helped me understand a foundational truth: The Christian life isn’t difficult – it’s impossible! That is, in our own strength there’s no way we can measure up to God’s perfect standards. Or even close.

 

My good intentions and determinations to do better in my own strength would never succeed. As is true for every one of us. This is why Jesus said we must be “born again” (John 3:3,7). Becoming children of God doesn’t demand a “makeover” or some type of improvement program, but an entirely new life. In 2 Corinthians 5:17 we're told, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!”

 

Up to that weekend, I had been wrestling with that latter verse as well as another, Galatians 2:20, which says, “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.” I knew those two passages intellectually, but not experientially. Somehow, they didn’t seem to apply to me. 

 

Although I still struggled “in the flesh,” God wanted me to understand that in Christ I had been made new spiritually. Another verse, Titus 3:5, expresses it this way: “He saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of His mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit.” 

 

I already had new life in Jesus Christ but hadn’t appropriated it. It’s still a challenge at times when, as Jesus said, “The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak” (Mark 14:38). It’s a day by day, moment by moment process of learning how to follow Him in the power of His Spirit that lives in us.

 

This brings up another biblical reference to becoming new. Romans 12:2 offers the admonition, “Do not be conformed any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is – His good, pleasing and perfect will.” Every day can be a battle, being bombarded with “the pattern of this world” through what we read, hear and see.

 

The only way we can win this battle is to “set [our] minds on things above, not on earthly things” (Colossians 3:2). And we can do this consistently only through the power of God’s Spirit. Every day the Lord is busily doing new things – both in us and through us. If we were to ask Him, “What’s new?” I suspect He’d respond, “You have no idea!”

The Day That Changed Everything

Was the first Christmas really on Dec. 25? No one knows for certain. Some experts on biblical history (old authorities?) claim the Christ Child was actually born in the spring. Others think that even if the amazing Bethlehem event did occur in the winter, it might have been on a different date. No matter. What does matter is what happened after that.

For most of the world, the modern calendar traces back to the estimated birth of Christ, which is why we have B.C. (Before Christ) and A.D. (Anno Domini, or Year of our Lord). Every time we make a financial transaction using coins, currency or a check, they bear dates that hearken to Christ’s birth. The cliché, “no room at the inn,” is taken directly from the Christmas story.

 

Many other common references and terms we use today, such as the good Samaritan, the prodigal son, walking on water, turning water into wine, the Lord’s Prayer, faith the size of a mustard seed, the widow’s mite, salt of the earth, and the Cross, are drawn directly from Jesus’ life and teachings. 

 

In addition, He gave us familiar saying such as “judge not lest you be judged” (Matthew 7:1-2), “do to others as you would have them do to you” (Luke 6:31), “love your neighbor as yourself” (Mark 12:31), and “it is easier for a camel to get through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God” (Matthew 19:24).

 

In these and many other ways, our lives would be very different if it were not for that unique, divine day in an obscure Middle Eastern town. However, that’s not the greatest difference.

 

Over the years I have met countless men, women and young people whose lives have been changed for all eternity by Jesus Christ. I am among them, as are many members of our family. Because faith in Jesus is far more than a matter of personal opinion or individual ideology. It means experiencing a literal, life-changing event that alters the course of one’s life for both now and once we step onto the other side of eternity.

 

Speaking to the Nicodemus, a member of the Jewish ruling council called the Pharisees, Jesus made the astounding statement, “I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again” (John 3:3). Being born again, I have learned, means much more than a changed attitude or a new way of thinking. As Jesus elaborated, “…no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit…. You should not be surprised at my saying, ‘You must be born again’” (John 3:5-7).

 

In 2 Corinthians 5:17, the apostle Paul stated this in a different way: “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!... God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Corinthians 5:17-21).

 

Then, in another of his letters, Paul looked back not to Jesus’ birth but to His crucifixion and resurrection, without which that first Christmas day would have been just another ordinary day: “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me” (Galatians 2:20).

 

So as we celebrate Christmas, commemorating the birth of Jesus, “Immanuel – which means ‘God with us’” (Matthew 1:23), we mark the singular, watershed moment for mankind. Jesus declared, “I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full” (John 10:10). It’s available to every one of us – the greatest Christmas gift of all – just for the asking.

The Original ‘Nick at Nite’

This was the "Nick@Nite" logo
used by the Nickelodeon Channel,
2002-2006.

Have you or your kids ever watched “Nick@Nite,” programs broadcast in the evening by the Nickelodeon cable channel? It features syndicated series, children’s-oriented films and some original programming. We rarely watch it, unless one of our grandkids is visiting, but did you know there was another “Nick at night” about 2,000 years ago?

This “Nick” was Nicodemus, a member of the Pharisees, the Jewish ruling council, in the days of Jesus. In an amazing encounter recounted in the gospel of John (chapter 3:1-21), Nicodemus went to see Jesus at night, under the cover of darkness, presumably so he would not be observed by his peers and open to their ridicule. This evening interaction revealed a foundational spiritual truth.

Nicodemus kicked off the conversation by stating, “Rabbi, we know you are a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the miraculous signs you are doing if God were not with him.” As He so often did, Jesus responded in a very unexpected way, answering a question the Pharisee had not even asked: “I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again.” 

The religious leader’s first inclination might have been to do a double-take, thinking something like, “Huh? What?” But then he asked, “How can a man be born when he is old?... Surely he cannot enter a second time into his mother’s womb to be born!” Jesus quickly explained He was not referring to physical birth, but rather spiritual renewal and transformation.

“I tell you the truth, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit. Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. You should not be surprised at my saying, ‘You must be born again.’ The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear the sound but cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit” (John 3:5-8).

In 1976, in the days leading up to the Presidential election, then-candidate Jimmy Carter brought the term, “born again Christian,” into mainstream consciousness when he gave an interview in the most unlikely of places, Playboy magazine. Over the decades since then, “born again” has been used – and misused – countless times. But there’s no mistaking what Jesus meant during his interaction with Nicodemus.

He wasn’t referring to a simple change of thinking, attitude or philosophy. Neither was Jesus insisting upon the adoption of a new ideology or belief system. He was introducing “Nick” – and us – to a fundamental principle of the Christian faith. We can’t have a genuine, life-changing relationship with God without being born again spiritually. 

In Ephesians 2:1-25, we’re told, “As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient…. But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ….” In another letter, the apostle Paul wrote, “I have been crucified with Christ, and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me” (Galatians 2:20).

Grasping this truth, this reality, has been transforming for me, as I suspect it was for Nicodemus, who later became one of Jesus’ devoted followers. Being a person who does checklists and enjoys crossing off my “to-do’s,” I had been trying “to do” the Christian life, with very little success – but much frustration. Sometimes I still forget, or get distracted and fall back into my old “I can do this myself” habits. Then the Lord reminds me of what He said elsewhere, “apart from Me you can do nothing” (John 15:5). 

I know I’ve written about this before, but I remember how long it took for this truth to really sink in. Jesus said, “You shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free” (John 8:32). I can’t overstate how freeing it has been to “get it,” knowing that it’s not about what I can do for the Lord, but rather, what He wants to do in me and through me. Understanding this makes all the difference, every minute of every day!

Canyons, Conceptions – and Cocoons

Imagine all that was involved in forming the Grand Canyon.

Have you ever seen one of those gossip magazines at the grocery store with a cover photo of a beautiful actress, except she’s not wearing any makeup? Who knew so much work went into making someone look gorgeous! 

Beauty, of course, isn’t restricted to the realms of Hollywood. We find it all around us: spectacular sunrises or sunsets; scenery right after a snowfall; the pallet of colorful leaves in the autumn, or another of nature’s myriad wonders. We have manmade beauty: inspiring works of art; stirring  and complex musical compositions; a poem that grabs hold of the heart, or a stunning work of architecture. 

Occasionally, as I’ve written before, I even encounter something that seems truly deserving of the term, “Awesome!” But to my shame, rarely do I feel appropriate appreciation for all that was involved in bringing about that awesomeness. 

This exquisite porcelain creation in
Herend, Hungary took many hours
of painstaking artistry.

Take the Grand Canyon, for example, or other wondrous vistas around the world, even if they don’t quite match the famed Arizona landmark’s grandeur. We can’t begin to conceive the factors and forces that combined to create them. Years ago I visited Herend, Hungary, where I viewed exhibits of rare and exquisite porcelain and china treasured by collectors around the world. Painstaking artistry has gone into creating those pieces, some dating back to the 1800s, but we see only the finished product.

When we admire paintings or sculptures from art’s grand masters, we hardly fathom what went into each work’s conception or the years of preparation that led up to its execution. We can enjoy compositions by Beethoven, Mozart, Bach, Chopin and many others, but can we fully comprehend the inspiration – and perspiration – expended to complete such majestic works?

Even the simplest things manage to escape my understanding. As the late author and poet Maya Angelou wrote, “We delight in the beauty of the butterfly, but rarely admit the changes it has gone through to achieve that beauty.”

As a butterfly flits from flower to flower, do we stop to ponder its prior journey from caterpillar to cocoon – the struggle it endured before arriving at such delicate beauty? There’s perhaps no more compelling symbol of rebirth in nature.

This leads me to consider the even more profound phenomenon of spiritual rebirth. Jesus told Nicodemus, the Jewish leader, “no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again” (John 3:3). Then, for emphasis, Jesus restated, “You should not be surprised at my saying, ‘You must be born again.’ The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit” (John 3:7-8).

One way of understanding this powerful declaration is that becoming a part of God’s eternal family doesn’t involve making improvements – it requires total transformation, far more wondrous than what butterflies go through. As 2 Corinthians 5:17 says, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!” 

Most often, however, this “instant” transformation has been a long time in the making. In my case, even though I had an intellectual belief in God, it took more than 30 years before I was willing to embrace Jesus Christ as both Savior and Lord. And yet, that was just the beginning. Ever since, God has been to work in and through my life, continuing to mold and shape me into the person He desires for me to be. I have been engaging, sometimes unwittingly or even unwillingly, in what Philippians 2:12 describes as, “working out your own salvation with fear and trembling.” In other words, discovering how to work out what God has already worked in.

In terms of “beauty,” the Christian life is a bit of a mixed bag. At times we might strike others as splendid new creations, but at other times we slip back into the old forms of our past life, almost as if a butterfly could slip back to being a caterpillar. Maybe God should slap a sign on our backs reading, “Work in Progress.”

The good news about the Good News is that, indeed, God isn’t finished with us even after we become “born again.” As Philippians 1:6 affirms, “being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.”

At that moment we will realize the fulfillment of the assurance given to us in 1 John 3:2, “Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when he appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.” Perhaps then, more than ever, we’ll appreciate all the work that’s required to create a thing of true beauty.

No Substitutes, No Imitations

Over the years my wife has created a couple of pretty Pandora bracelets. Well, she didn’t actually create them, but did choose the specific baubles produced by the Pandora people to fashion her own unique bracelets that no one else has. With the vast array of choices, possibilities for one-of-a-kind combinations are endless.

These charms look quite a bit like the real
thing, except for the price.

The other day I was at a local restaurant and, as I was paying my bill, noticed a display of what initially appeared to be Pandora charms. They looked nice and I thought, “Wow! Are they selling Pandora items here now?” Then I noticed a little sign that read, “2 for $2.” Aha! Not the genuine article at all – cheap knockoffs, even though they looked like the real thing.

If you’re strapped for cash, I’m sure the imitations would seem like a deal. You could have a bracelet that appears like the bonafide item, but at just a fraction of the cost. Kind of like the fake Rolex watches or high-fashion purses the sidewalk “entrepreneurs” try to sell passersby in New York City. They look real, only they’re not.

Substitutes – counterfeits for the genuine – aren’t limited to jewelry, clothing or accessories, of course. Sometimes we’re willing to settle for them because they cost less, or don’t require as much of us.

But when it comes to important matters, imitations and substitutes aren’t acceptable. Suppose you or a loved one get in an accident and suffer considerable loss of blood. Upon arriving at the hospital, you’re told, “Sorry, we’re all out of your blood type. But lucky for you, nurse Myrtle just got back from the grocery store with some excellent tomato juice, so we’re going to substitute that instead, okay?”

Ludicrous, right? But settling for imitations happens more that we’d like to admit. We find ourselves “looking for love in all the wrong places,” as the theme song of the film, “Urban Cowboy,” observed. In the spiritual realm, it’s even more pronounced.

People hop from church to church, or even from one belief system to the next, trying to find something that doesn’t seem too demanding. They want to align with something to believe in that fits comfortably within their biases and preferences, without insisting on a whole lot of commitment.

The apostle Paul addressed this strongly when he wrote, “For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths” (2 Timothy 4:3-4).

It’s clear the attraction of substitutes and imitations isn’t a new invention. Whether it’s a consumer product, a philosophy, or matter of faith, there will always be alternatives presented to us that seem more palatable, more accommodating to what we seek to fulfill our desires.

Over the years, advertisers for everything from soap to automobiles have repeated the mantra, “Accept no substitutes!” to separate their products from the competition. Cheap imitations might work when shopping for a new pair of jeans, designer clothes or ballpoint pens. But in the realm of eternal truth, not so much.

When Jesus Christ made declarations like, “no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again” (John 3:3) and “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6), He wasn’t making suggestions, desperately seeking to recruit followers, or offering meaningless, empty boasts.

In effect, Jesus was giving a simple, but extremely stern warning: “Accept no substitutes, no imitations!” That’s a warning worth heeding.

Misinformation, Information, or Transformation?

It’s often said the Bible is the best-selling, least-read book ever written. That seems to be true, based on comments and perspectives we hear about the Bible on TV, radio, newspapers and magazines, the Internet, social media, casual conversation – and even some of our churches.

World sales of the Bible exceed 100 million copies each year, with revenue from sales in the United States alone ranging between $425 million and $650 million annually. Yet the average person knows surprisingly little about what’s between the front and back covers. For instance, “God helps those that help themselves” and “cleanliness is next to godliness” aren't found in any Bible.

There are those who seem to have learned much of what they know about the Scriptures from the books of 2 Opinions or 3 Speculations. They preface comments about God and the Bible with, “Well, I think….” It’s fine to know what people think, and everyone’s entitled to their own points of view. But have they ever truly looked to see what the Bible actually says? Without seriously doing so, all we have to work with is misinformation.

Others are quick to cite specific passages that serve to reinforce a point they want to make. For instance, they point out Jesus commanded us to “love your neighbor as yourself,” but forget (or ignore) that He first said we’re to “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind” (Matthew 22:36-39, Mark 12:30-31, Luke 10:27). Because we can’t really do our best at loving our neighbors without first loving God as we should.

Pulling passages selectively from the Bible provides us with useful information, but without studying them in proper context and considering what some would term, “the whole counsel of God,” that’s all it is – information.

Over my years of reading, studying and meditating on the Scriptures, I’ve learned their intent is definitely not for misinformation. Nor did God provide them merely for information. His goal for us is simple: Transformation.

This time of year we celebrate the renewal of life – flowers growing, bees buzzing, and before too long, butterflies flitting about. But the thing about butterflies is there’s an important step required for them to become such delicate, colorful, graceful creatures. They must first exist in life as caterpillars.

The cartoon I’ve posted cleverly makes this point. How a fuzzy, slow-moving caterpillar builds and then resides in its cocoon until the time is right for it to work its way out, emerging as a lovely butterfly is one of nature’s (God’s) wonders. But what’s the link between the Bible and butterflies? They both involve transformation.

When Jesus told Nicodemus in John 3:3, “I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again,” He wasn’t talking about attitude adjustment, but transformation. For emphasis Jesus repeated a few verses later, "You must be born again" (John 3:7) Another passage elaborates: “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come” (2 Corinthians 5:17). Out with the old; in with the new.

Picture a butterfly emerging from the cocoon. It bears little resemblance to its former self. This serves as a physical metaphor for spiritual transformation. As we mature in our faith in Jesus Christ, the persons we once were should seem less and less like the people we’re becoming. Our former selves should be more and more like an old photo, bearing little likeness to what God is reshaping us to be.

So in reading the Bible, I’m wary of misinformation. I appreciate the information I receive, but don’t want to stop there. What I’m after is transformation. That’s what God is after for all of us.