WHAT IT MEANS TO BE BORN AGAIN

What it Means to be Born Again 

Toni Babcock

“But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, 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, whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior,” (Titus 3:4-6 NIV).

True spirituality begins with surrender to grace — it’s the first act of spiritual obedience to God, and it’s accomplished through the power of the Holy Spirit. 

But we are never more spiritually vulnerable than when we teeter on the brink of true surrender only to adopt some faulty scheme of man. 

How can this be?

We may not recognize it, but a tug-of-war is always taking place between our natural sinful way and God’s divine way. 

Man wants to devise his own strategies for earning his way to heaven of which he may not even be aware. 

But when he learns to surrender to grace, a seismic shift takes place. 

Man quits depending on himself and depends on Jesus Christ alone to save his soul.

Never jump through self-imposed hoops in order to get God to receive you. 

Believe God’s Word and receive Christ. 

Salvation is not an initiation, it is a transformation experienced when we believe the truth of the gospel and receive Christ into our lives through faith. 

That is what it means to be born again. 

“But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name: who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God,” (John 1:12-13 NKJV). 

Toni M. Babcock is author of Reflections from the Heart. Contact