"See, I have set before you this day life and good, and death and evil." Deut. 30:15
Tonight Jeff and I attended our pregnancy center's banquet. As we celebrated a "Culture of Life" and rejoiced in the fact that a local ministry is promoting the sanctity of life, I began to wonder if we take the time to celebrate the new life given to us through regeneration. Wouldn't it make things simpler if we could give someone a "regeneration" test to see if they tested positive or not? But alas, the answer is known only to God and the individual. Still, we have the opportunity to see evidences of salvation in individuals that confirm that God has breathed life into one who once was spiritually dead.
After my salvation at age seven I had an aunt who began keeping track of my spiritual birthday. Each year for several years she would send a card she created to celebrate this special day. I've never known anyone else to do that. What a special way to celebrate my new life.
Can you find ways to help celebrate new life in a believer? Baptism is a great time for the church body to rejoice and celebrate with the new believer. Some other ideas would be a quilt, wall-hanging, picture or new Bible with a notation regarding this special event. Isn't it sad we Christians spend more effort and expense celebrating the physical birthday rather than the spiritual?
In closing, I must share some words on regeneration by some old fellows who walked with God.
"What comes from this throne of grace is pure grace, and nothing else; clear grace, free grace; grace that is not mixed, nor need be mixed with works of righteousness that we have done. It is of itself sufficient to answer all our wants, to heal all our diseases and to help us at a time of need. It is grace that chooses, it is grace that calleth, it is grace that preserveth, and it is grace that brings to glory; even the grace that like a river of water of life proceedeth from this throne. And hence it is, that from first to last, we must cry, Grace, grace unto it!"- John Bunyan
"Do not think Christians are made by education; they are made by creation... The vital spark must come from above! Regeneration is not of the will of man, nor of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, but by the power and energy of the Spirit of God, and the Spirit of God alone!"
- C.H. Spurgeon
Wonderful post. We seem to celebrate re-birth but then quickly forget. Such a nice way for your aunt to call your new birth to remembrance each year. Your quote choice is wonderful and most encouraging.
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