Are you born of God?
Dear reader, perhaps you are part of a religious group, even active religious, do certain works such as going to church, giving alms, attending religious festivals, various rituals, etc.
But religiosity is not the same as being pleasing to God! Religious works or facts considered by you being "good", are not the same as the good works, which God determined in advance for us to walk in them! Why?
Because good works, holy works can only be done by those created in Jesus, who were reborn from above (Ephesians 2:10).
Just as a wild tree, that is not grafted, cannot make quality fruits so that the farmer would be satisfied, the same, anyone living in his non-regenerated nature by God cannot please God (Romans 8: 5-8) .
The Bible teaches that, to please God people must be born of God. This birth is called by the Word of God: "born of God" (1 John 3: 9) or "born from above" (John 3: 3).
Jesus spoke of this spiritual rebirth as a condition to enter the kingdom of God, when He said: "You must be born from above" (John 3: 7). You cannot be part of His church, His kingdom unless you are born from above! All religious groups in which people are not born of God, are not God's church, but only some false groups who deceive people!
Let's see further:
What is the birth from above and how people can be born of God?
Before sinning, Adam and Eve saw good and bad through the eyes of God, based on the commandments and divine guidance. Even if they were naked physically, they saw themselves through the eyes of holiness and respect for each other.
After eating from the tree of knowledge of good and bad, they had not seen good and bad through the eyes of God, but through a selfish point of view thus, soon after the sin, their selfish desires came up and they had to cover up the intimate parts of their body, to make clothes; they had lost their pure thinking. Their whole being was affected by sin: thoughts, feelings, will.
All people descend from Adam and Eve and therefore, inherit the nature of Adam after he sinned (Romans 5:12).
People inherit a selfish way of thinking, speaking, living! People are born imperfect, with a mind, will and feelings affected by sin, they see distorted realities and establish what's good and bad in terms of self-love, not in terms of God's love! - 2 Timothy 3: 1-5.
Men's spirit, their heart, their soul are not connected to the light of God and therefore they have a fleshly wisdom, bestial, demonic, turned to evil (Ephesians 2: 1-3; James 3: 13-16). They are connected to demons that urge further towards unrighteousness, and if someone listens to devilish impulses, will become more bestial, fleshly, sinful, devilish!
Man born of woman has two problems: 1. the sinful nature inclined to evil, which includes the way he sees (thinks) things through his selfishness; 2. the sins, that man committed during his life until now, thus, deserving true punishment for his unrighteousness.
God's solution to man's sin and the punishment he deserves for breaking God's holy law, is the last Adam: Jesus Christ (1 Corinthians 15:45). He was without sin, as Adam before falling (1 Peter 2:22), that is why He was a perfect sacrifice (1 Peter 1:19), through whom the first man's mistake could be redeemed and for all people to have a second chance to eternal life. Therefore, God sent forth His Son into the world to take on the sins of the world (those of Adam and of his children) and also the punishment people deserved, the death. The Lord Jesus died on the cross being punished instead of us, with our sins being taken by Him upon Himself (Mark 10:45; 1 Timothy 2: 5,6; Isaiah chap. 53; John 1:29).
Jesus sacrificed Himself for all people, but those who reject these truths lose their chance to be freed, to be reborn as children of God! On the other hand, people who listen to the Word of God, and who had realized they had broken the law of God, who repent, regret their sin, their unrighteousness, and put their trust in the sacrifice of Jesus for forgiveness of their sins, but not in religious, unbiblical rituals, receive forgiveness of sins as a gift! - Romans 6:23; Acts 3:21; 20:21.
Forgiveness, the birth from God, as well as the change of the old nature into the new one are actually obtained by man when entering the water of baptism and immersing in Jesus; after the man repented of sins and put his trust in the sacrifice of Jesus Christ (Acts 2:38; 8:12; 22:16). There, in the water of baptism, is present the blood of Jesus and the Spirit of God (1 John 5: 6-8), which will purify the man of his past sins, moreover, the man will be reborn through them (1 Peter 1: 1-3). Thus, his spirit, his heart will be imbued with the Holy Spirit, will be changed (Hebrews 10:22). His mind will start to see things through the eyes of God; that man will be connected to the light of Christ (Ephesians 2: 1-10). Once his old nature dies, he receives a new nature: the Spirit of God, that has God's qualities, thus, the second problem of the man is solved (Romans 6: 2-5; Colossians 2: 11-12; 2 Peter 1: 1-4).
From the son of devil, with a bestial, selfish, devilish mind, man becomes a child of God, who resembles Adam before his fall into sin (Galatians 5: 19-23; 1 Corinthians 6: 9-11; Ephesians 4: 19-24).
Since one sort of seed gives rise to one kind of plant not to another one, which means that once you plant wheat, then you reap wheat (Genesis 1:11), the same: "What has been born from the flesh is flesh and what has been born from the Spirit is Spirit" (John 3: 6).
Thus, the birth from above means receiving another nature, the heavenly, divine one (2 Peter 1: 4), that your spirit is renewed (Titus 3: 5; Ephesians 4:23), but the Holy Spirit, which is the seed of the heavenly Father, works in the faithful one a personality with God's qualities (1 John 3: 8,9); it is the beginning of a new life. Did you start such a life?
Dear reader, ask yourself seriously: Are you born of God?
If not, do not stay indifferent because you're playing with your life and with God's Word, YOU SHOULD BE BORN OF GOD!