Being Born Again...Ok...now what do I do?....
For many of us, it seems when we invite the Lord Jesus into our lives, there is supposedly some kind of ecstasy that takes place...angels singing... tears...an emotional intensity....and from this time forth we are not subject to surrendering to our sins...our former lifestyle...our former thoughts on how we think about things....for this initial experience will last for a lifetime. Yet, what I have discovered...it doesn't really work that way.....no, not at all.
In my own experience, I can relate to Rosaria Butterfield's testimony on Jesus becoming the Lord of her life. She commented in her interview, as she had began to surrender her life to Jesus, and weighing out a lifestyle that later in her words...did not agree with the Sacred Scripture, she found herself weighing out the options. . She commented how it was like she was standing out on a ledge outside her window...standing and standing and standing...until she couldn't stand on the ledge outside her window anymore. She had to come in off the ledge outside her window...for you see...the Sacred Scripture had overtaken her former thoughts.
So...what does happen? I think that totally depends...on what I am willing to give up...and the influence of the Holy Spirit..
Jesus taught the people that gathered 'round Him...in parables. These parables or stories contained illustrations and points that Christ Jesus was attempting to get through to the hearts of the people....were about daily routines and actions going on in the everyday life of the crowds that had gathered to hear Him...just ordinary people...like you...like me.
In Matthew 13, He gives specific results of what can happen to a person when they choose to...become Born Again.
A Gleaning from Matthew 13:1-9 " The Parable of the Sower"
" That very same day, the family of Jesus had come to see Him, while He was speaking to the local crowd...because Jesus's family had some matters to discuss with Him. Later, He was found to be leaving their family home walking to the shore of Lake Galilee, where He found a place to sit...right on the beach.
The word soon got out among the locals..."He was now sitting on the beach", and in a short time the beach was crowded...with people. In fact, the beach got so crowded with people, Jesus had to get into a boat and moved a little off shore..and it was there He began to speak to the people who had gathered...that had come to be near Him. He began to speak to the people through the use of parables...illustrations and stories that would cause the crowd to think about...why they were wanting to be near Him...what He was saying to them had such an appeal...and how their hearts seemed to gain hope on every word He spoke.
And then..He spoke:
Tell Me...what do you think of this?
There was this farmer who was found scattering his seed onto his fields, in preparation for a harvest in the fall. He was walking along...spreading his seed freely with his arms and hands...from the large bag of seed he had holstered over his shoulder.
Because of his liberal scattering, some of his seed not only landed in his fields, but also landed on the footpaths adjacent to his fields, some seed landed on the rocky soil near his fields, and still some of the seed landed amidst heavy patches of thistles and weeds that grew near the fields as well.
Here are the results of the his liberal scattering technique:
1. Some of the seed the farmer was throwing in freestyle landed on the walking path...outside of the field he had designated for the plants to grow. These seeds really had no chance to find root in any soil and the result was these seeds were soon walked on by people travelling on the foot path, and then all the seeds were simply eaten...by the birds that spotted them lying openly on the foot path.
2. Other seed fell on rock piles, rock that had been thrown along side the field that was designated for the seeds to grow, and here the seeds had little chance to grow. There was a little soil that had accumulated among the rock piles, but nothing that had any depth. Nevertheless, these seeds cast upon the rock piles did take root...and actually sprung up as tender plants rather quickly. The problem for these young plants was the soil was so shallow these plants could not take root with any depth. As a result, when the sun came up and its heat bore down on these young plants, these plants became scorched and withered from the heat of the noon day sun, and simply dried up and died...because their roots had failed to get any depth in the shallow soil and receive the nutrients and water they needed to survive.
3. Yet other seed fell where weeds and thistles had been thrown...outside the field designated for the young plants to grow. Although there was soil available for the seed to take root and grow into young plants, the weeds and thistles were much larger and plentiful, and they simply outgrew and choked out the young plants trying to grow amidst the weeds and thistles. In a short time, the young seedlings grew slow from lack of sun because of the large weeds and thistles that were blocking the sun's rays from getting to these young plants, and the roots of these weeds and thistles were robbing from these young plants the nutrients and water in the soil they so vitally needed. As a result, the young seedlings perished...and any that did survive growing along side the thistles and weeds were scraggly and were unable to produce any harvest.
4. Now there were plenty of seed the farmer dispersed that fell into the field that had been prepared for them to grow. Soon these seeds became young seedlings and then strong plants...producing a harvest beyond the farmer's wildest dreams. Some of these seeds that had originally been cast by the farmer grew into strong and healthy plants that produced a harvest...some 100 times greater than their value as a seed, other seeds produced 60 times their value, and still other seeds became plants that produced 30 times their own original value.
Now, I say that if you have understood this parable I have just spoke, then you are beginning to understand...who I Am."
For many of us, it seems when we invite the Lord Jesus into our lives, there is supposedly some kind of ecstasy that takes place...angels singing... tears...an emotional intensity....and from this time forth we are not subject to surrendering to our sins...our former lifestyle...our former thoughts on how we think about things....for this initial experience will last for a lifetime. Yet, what I have discovered...it doesn't really work that way.....no, not at all.
In my own experience, I can relate to Rosaria Butterfield's testimony on Jesus becoming the Lord of her life. She commented in her interview, as she had began to surrender her life to Jesus, and weighing out a lifestyle that later in her words...did not agree with the Sacred Scripture, she found herself weighing out the options. . She commented how it was like she was standing out on a ledge outside her window...standing and standing and standing...until she couldn't stand on the ledge outside her window anymore. She had to come in off the ledge outside her window...for you see...the Sacred Scripture had overtaken her former thoughts.
So...what does happen? I think that totally depends...on what I am willing to give up...and the influence of the Holy Spirit..
Jesus taught the people that gathered 'round Him...in parables. These parables or stories contained illustrations and points that Christ Jesus was attempting to get through to the hearts of the people....were about daily routines and actions going on in the everyday life of the crowds that had gathered to hear Him...just ordinary people...like you...like me.
In Matthew 13, He gives specific results of what can happen to a person when they choose to...become Born Again.
A Gleaning from Matthew 13:1-9 " The Parable of the Sower"
" That very same day, the family of Jesus had come to see Him, while He was speaking to the local crowd...because Jesus's family had some matters to discuss with Him. Later, He was found to be leaving their family home walking to the shore of Lake Galilee, where He found a place to sit...right on the beach.
The word soon got out among the locals..."He was now sitting on the beach", and in a short time the beach was crowded...with people. In fact, the beach got so crowded with people, Jesus had to get into a boat and moved a little off shore..and it was there He began to speak to the people who had gathered...that had come to be near Him. He began to speak to the people through the use of parables...illustrations and stories that would cause the crowd to think about...why they were wanting to be near Him...what He was saying to them had such an appeal...and how their hearts seemed to gain hope on every word He spoke.
And then..He spoke:
Tell Me...what do you think of this?
There was this farmer who was found scattering his seed onto his fields, in preparation for a harvest in the fall. He was walking along...spreading his seed freely with his arms and hands...from the large bag of seed he had holstered over his shoulder.
Because of his liberal scattering, some of his seed not only landed in his fields, but also landed on the footpaths adjacent to his fields, some seed landed on the rocky soil near his fields, and still some of the seed landed amidst heavy patches of thistles and weeds that grew near the fields as well.Here are the results of the his liberal scattering technique:
1. Some of the seed the farmer was throwing in freestyle landed on the walking path...outside of the field he had designated for the plants to grow. These seeds really had no chance to find root in any soil and the result was these seeds were soon walked on by people travelling on the foot path, and then all the seeds were simply eaten...by the birds that spotted them lying openly on the foot path.
2. Other seed fell on rock piles, rock that had been thrown along side the field that was designated for the seeds to grow, and here the seeds had little chance to grow. There was a little soil that had accumulated among the rock piles, but nothing that had any depth. Nevertheless, these seeds cast upon the rock piles did take root...and actually sprung up as tender plants rather quickly. The problem for these young plants was the soil was so shallow these plants could not take root with any depth. As a result, when the sun came up and its heat bore down on these young plants, these plants became scorched and withered from the heat of the noon day sun, and simply dried up and died...because their roots had failed to get any depth in the shallow soil and receive the nutrients and water they needed to survive.
3. Yet other seed fell where weeds and thistles had been thrown...outside the field designated for the young plants to grow. Although there was soil available for the seed to take root and grow into young plants, the weeds and thistles were much larger and plentiful, and they simply outgrew and choked out the young plants trying to grow amidst the weeds and thistles. In a short time, the young seedlings grew slow from lack of sun because of the large weeds and thistles that were blocking the sun's rays from getting to these young plants, and the roots of these weeds and thistles were robbing from these young plants the nutrients and water in the soil they so vitally needed. As a result, the young seedlings perished...and any that did survive growing along side the thistles and weeds were scraggly and were unable to produce any harvest.
4. Now there were plenty of seed the farmer dispersed that fell into the field that had been prepared for them to grow. Soon these seeds became young seedlings and then strong plants...producing a harvest beyond the farmer's wildest dreams. Some of these seeds that had originally been cast by the farmer grew into strong and healthy plants that produced a harvest...some 100 times greater than their value as a seed, other seeds produced 60 times their value, and still other seeds became plants that produced 30 times their own original value.
Now, I say that if you have understood this parable I have just spoke, then you are beginning to understand...who I Am."
No comments:
Post a Comment