"3 I tell you the truth, unless you are born again, you cannot see the
Many people today think they are Christians, but they aren't. They attend church but they've never been born again. Or, increasingly, in our culture people just "do their own thing" with God, but they've never been born again. And if you haven't been born again, Jesus says you won't see the
What does it mean to be "born again"? It means to have such a radical change of heart and mind about your own sin and God, that your entire life changes. Once you sinned and didn't care who it hurt or what anyone thought about it. Now you feel bad when you sin and seek to repent and make things right. Once you didn’t pay attention to God. Now he's everything to you. Once, Jesus was just a curse word, now his name is sacred to you. You used to do your thing, now you do HIS thing! You used to ignore the Bible, now you read and strive to obey it. You aren't perfect, but you'll never be the same as you were! Your priorities changed! Now, God is number one in your life and it shows.
You see, simply attending church won't save anyone. Going to church doesn't make you born again anymore than going to McDonalds makes you a double cheeseburger! You must be born again! Saying you believe in God doesn't mean you've been born again. Even the demons of hell believe in God, but they aren't born again. And you must be born again to enter God's Kingdom.
But how is one born again? Jesus tells us in verse 5! He uses the phrase "born of water and Spirit" as a parallel to "born again". The term "water" alludes to baptism. In baptism, the Spirit of God fills us in response to our faith in Jesus for salvation. Peter calls it receiving the gift of the Holy Spirit (see Acts 2:38).
Have you turned away from your sin and placed your faith in Jesus to save you from the penalty of death you owe God for sinning? Have you been baptized in water to join with Christ and be filled with the Spirit? Has your life truly changed, as we described above? Have you been born again?
If the answer is no or you have any doubts about it, I urge you to seek to obey God immediately and be born again, before it's too late.