Metanoia 5

Born Again
Life is a War
"Faith", every second of every minute...

Peter's Denials

    The Metanoia Jesus offers is radical.

    It is not just more knowledge or more will power or a great memory... it is not a better working heart and spirit... it is a new heart and a new spirit, a rebirth, a regeneration, to become a new creature in God... a transplant of a new heart and a new spirit in you...

    It is the fulfillment of what God promised:

    ²⁶ I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. ²⁷ And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws (Ezekiel 36).

    This how Jesus puts it:

    ³In reply Jesus declared, "I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again, or born from above "
    ⁴"How can a man be born when he is old?" Nicodemus asked. "Surely he cannot enter a second time into his mother's womb to be born!"
    ⁵Jesus answered, "I tell you the truth, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit. ⁶Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit.
    ⁷You should not be surprised at my saying, 'You must be born again.' ⁸The 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."
    ⁹"How can this be?" Nicodemus asked (John 3).

    This rebirth occurs in Baptism by the power of the Spirit, mentioned 3 times by Jesus... you are cleaned of all your sins, and Jesus and the Father and the Spirit come to abide in you... you become the home of the Father, a temple of the Spirit, a tabernacle of Jesus (Jn.14:23,17, 1Cor.3:16, 6:19)... you are another Christ walking on earth to live as Jesus did and to do the same things Jesus did (Mc.16:16-18).

    If you believe in Jesus, but you don't receive Baptism in his Church, you are not a Christian... Before Baptism you are a "child of the devil" (1Jn.3:10)... after Baptism, you are a "child of God" officially proclaimed "prophet", "priest", and "king", in the Kingdom of God.

    Now, many questions come:

    - If Jesus is in me, how come I am not full of joy and love and peace like Jesus?

    - How come I don't do the miracles Jesus did?

    - How come I keep on sinning, and getting depressed?

    - How come I keep on suffering?... and many more...

    Some of these questions will be answered now and in future chapters.

    Changes after Baptism:

    Your heart and spirit changes, as just mentioned, you are now a Child of God, a divine prince on earth to live like the Son of God and to do the same works as the Son of Man.

    Your body doesn't change at all, you have the same intelligence and memory and will and emotions, the same temptations or even more, now Satan envies you more.

    After Baptism, with Jesus in you, you do not become a "robot" nor an "animal", you still are "free"... free to love God or to hate Him, free to sin or to do great deeds, free to love your neighbor or to envy him and hate him...

    A life lived by Faith:

    Do you  remember the last question of Nicodemus,  "How can this be?" Nicodemus asked (John 3:9).

    Jesus answers mentioning 9 times the word "believe", "faith", in John 3... and about 98 times in his gospel.

    Every Christian has the first condition, born again by Baptism... Faith is what we have to do, our part in the bargain, and our main problem:

    "Faith" is essential to be born again, to become a Christian... but it is not just once in a lifetime... it does not end there, faith is essential to live every second of every minute of this life on earth. If Christ is with you, in you!, you have to be in this life full of enthusiasm and joy and love, and peace, no matter what happens. But you have to be aware of it and actualize it, trusting in Him, in every occasion or circumstance of your life... in everything, just do your very best, and then, trust in God all the way, it is the formula of success that never fails, the one given by God to Joshua (Jos.1).

    If you ever fill sad or worried, it is because at that moment you are not having faith, you don't realize that Jesus is with you, for you, in you!, to prepare the very best to you in every minute of your life. (Rom.8:28).

    In fact, it is a sin. Paul tells us "whatever does not proceed from faith is sin" (Rom.14:23)... and a most horrible sin!, called "prostitution against God" in the Old Testament... "not to trust in God"! is the worse sin, and the one we usually do not confess. (Judg.2:17, 8:33, Hosea 1, Is.1:21, Jer.2:20, Ex.34:15, Lv.17:7, Dt.31:16).    

    To trust in our abilities, or power or money instead of trusting in God, is a prostitution against God, a very serious thing to say, but it is!... because it is like a wife who trusts and delivers herself into the hands of another man. So it is for the person who serves and works for money or power or honor, worships and trust in another false god instead of serving, worshiping and trusting in the only one God... and it is the main reason of the troubles of the People of God all along the Bible.

    We trust often in other "gods" like bad spirits, superstition, witchcraft, astrology, horoscope, zodiac, psychics, crystals, magic… or simply we trust in money, or the power of men, or the power of a nation, or we trust it all in our abilities or strength or intelligence… we make a "god" out of drugs or sports or soap operas… or out of immoral behavior, or economics, or even out of our own good work or profession... 

    Can a child be Baptized?:

    Yes, by the faith of the Church... the child received the Original Sin from their fathers, and the same parents, who are Church, can bring him to Grace in Baptism.

    The greatest gift of a parent to his child is Baptism.

    In Acts 16, Lydia baptized her with all in her household, including children, all! (Act.16:15)... the converted jailer again, baptized himself with all the members of his family (Act.16:33).

    When Jesus instituted the Sacrament of Baptism he ordered to Baptize all, including children of course, Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit (Mat.28:19).
   

Life on Earth is a War for a Christian:

    If you ever thought that the life of a Christian is boring, you got a wrong idea... the life of a Christian is the greatest and most glorious adventure, full of fights and battles... a full and continuous war up to the last minute of life on earth... but with the assurance of a total victory.

    Anyway, life for any men on earth is a war, since birth to death: Wars within the home, wars at work, wars on our streets, wars in our culture, wars within the heart... wars between nations, between neighbors, religion wars, raze wars, prejudice wars, economic wars... the great difference is that for a pagan the war ends up id defeat... he can't carry not even his money to his grave!...

    Life for a Christian is the good fight of the Faith, says Paul:

    - Fight the good fight of the faith... I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. (1Tim.6:12, 2Tim.4:7). The last two Letters Paul wrote.
    - Put on the full armour of God... For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. (Eph.6:11-12).

    Life is a warfare, says Job, is there not an appointed warfare and hard labor to man upon earth? (Job 7:1, AMP).

    Yes, this war on earth is for a lifetime, up to our last breath on earth.

    For a Christian, this continuous war is an occasion for rejoice in every victory... nothing and nobody can take away the joy, love and peace of Jesus Christ in his heart!... not even death, which is the greatest day of a Christian, to enter eternal Heaven with no  mote battles, with no more tears, rejoicing day and night without rest in the glorious full presence of God, of the Lamb standing as sacrificed just in the middle of the throne of Heaven (Rev.8:4,9,11, 6:5).

    The War within Our Heart is by far the worst war... my worst enemy is myself!.. it is the war within me, the war of faith, between my "flesh" and my "spirit":

    My "spirit" was reborn in Baptism, but not my "flesh", I still have the same body, the same bad desires, the same temptations...

    - I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do--this I keep on doing (Rom.7:18-19).
    - This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would. (Gal.5:16-17)... and immediately Paul lists the works of the flesh and the fruits of the Spirit.

    The life of a Christian is a struggle, a glorious adventure, living every minute of it with faith in Christ in the Spirit, who cares so much about us that even our hairs as counted. (Mt.10:30).

    The Christian, with God in him, still can do the right or the wrong deeds... it is a glorious continuous battle... the desires of the flesh are every minute against the desires of the Spirit... we have to be led by the Spirit, living every minute of life with faith in God who lives in us.

    This battle again is a lifetime one, a glorious one, up to the last breath on earth.

   A "Christian", is a person who lives in Christ, in his Church, and Christ lives in him... he lives inside God, and God lives inside him... "it is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me" (Gal.2:20). It gives me vertigo just to think on it!… Jesus is with you, in you!, right now, but you have to live every moment with faith, aware of this fact every second of every minute of this life…

    A Christian is "another Christ", to live on earth the glorious adventure of love, being humble and meek like Jesus, doing the same work of Jesus, casting out devils and healing the sick, going about doing good, helping people to go to eternal Heaven, by being like Jesus "the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world", to take away all bad karma of people, would say the Hindus... teaching and preaching the gospel of the Kingdom with his words and good deeds... and it is not I, but Jesus who lives in me!.

    ... And all of this with fear to nobody and to nothing, because a Christian does not trust in power or money, but lives this present mortal life "by faith in Christ"... and if God is within me, I am not afraid of anybody, because God takes care of me... and I am afraid of nothing, because Jesus is the Lord of the winds and of the tempests and of the hurricanes, and he lives in me!... and if the Antichrist comes, let him do!, Jesus in me is more powerful than 1000 Antichrists!…

    And a Christian who is "poor", is a millionaire, like the child who has nothing in his pocket, but has everything in his father who loves him... and God, my Father, is "the multimillionaire", the owner of all the money in the world, and of all the cars and houses, and the Lord of health and power and honor... and he has everything for me!, just as anything I have is for my child!.

    Jesus tells us that we have to trust God our Father as the birds or the lilies of the field, as little children trust in their father (Matt.6:25-33, Matt.18:3)... a child has nothing, but he has everything in his father that loves him. Never ever a child thinks his father is going to forget to get his meals or dresses or toys... he trust his father!, it is the main characteristic of a child... and a Christian, since Baptism, becomes a child of God, a brother of Jesus, with the same inheritance that Jesus Christ himself (Rom.8:17)...
    God loves us and cares so much about us that even all the hairs of our head has well counted (Matt.10:30)... anything and everything in our lives are for the good of us!, including sickness, hurricanes, failures, problems in the family or at work... everything is a gift of God for us, planned with care and love by God himself for us (Rom.8:28).

    If you ever fail on any project because lack of money, start another one a thousand times more expensive!... your Father is the multimillionaire!... if you failed, it was not for lack of money, it was because God your Father did not wanted you to succeed, may be it was not good for you, or will bring you to Hell, He knows better!... you and I are like little children compared with our Father, like birds or the grass of the field... He knows!... and he loves and cares for you!.

    A Christian  is got to be a very happy person, even in death!... because death is the glorious door to enter Heaven. And by the way, we celebrate the feast of the Saints on the day they died, the greatest day of their lives!.

    Metanoia!... it is a work of God, of the Holy Spirit made into us in Baptism... it is done!... but we have to live with Faith every second of every minute of our life up to our last breath... it is the glorious fight of the Faith... the glorious adventure of being a Christian.

    Next we will deal with sufferings, sin, miracles, our God-monitor compared with our Radio-monitor...

Quotations: NIV at the Bible Gateway