born again

For many in the southern US, the words ‘born again’ have become trite and their meaning is buried along side the epitaphs of other words such as: homecoming, revival and alter call. Yesterday, many others and myself observed 4 people begin or renew their relationship with Jesus at the end of our Sunday morning gathering. At the end of gathering, our pastor mentioned that we had witnessed the miracle of ‘new life’ and he quoted 2 Corinthians 5:17-18. The Apostle Paul writes that we are a ‘new creation’. To be a new creation, means that we not only begin again, but we begin with a new person, a new identity. In a culture where the basic and foundational idea of being ‘born again’ has been abused and or neglected – hence, rendering it lost – there’s no doubt that a new follower of Jesus will be tripped up on the idea of having a new identity.

Because the idea of being ‘born again’ has so many different cultural definitions depending on your denominational slant or where you grew up, I tend to view a new relationship with Jesus like someone who is waking up from having a severe case of amnesia. You don’t really know who you are – in the eyes of God. It’s an identity crisis – and a big one at that.

To be ‘born again’, is to be born into the identity that God had for you before you were in your mother’s womb. Your identity crisis happened upon your physical birth into this world, you were born into a fallen humanity. You were born with amnesia. It’s not your fault, it just is. But now that you’re aware, you have a responsibility to attend to. Regardless of your age, being awakened out this state of amnesia and into this new life (new responsibility) is a paradox. It’s amazing and horrifying, refreshing and overwhelming all at the same time. You’ll find that paradox is an essential element in God’s Kingdom, much like oxygen is to earth.

There probably is a practical way to get reacquainted with both yourself and Jesus, but that’s not my area of expertise. My journey has been one of simply making it up as I go along. There have been times of incredible joy and times of overwhelming depression and yet in all of it, I found peace. More than any of the emotions that I felt, the presence of Truth brought a peace that passes all understanding. To know the Truth is everything, but we must start by knowing ourselves.

Know Thyself. Yes, it is a Greek philosophy, but it begins the process of unraveling how we, as humans, have adapted our personalities to our surroundings. Our surroundings are a fallen humanity. There are two areas of self that Christians – both new and old who are pursuing their new identity - should be aware of: calculating and competitive.

Calculating Self: Each child in a family stakes out her own territory of attention and importance by developing certain aspects of her character into “winning ways”. One child may be sociable and outgoing, another may be quiet and thoughtful, but both are aimed at the same thing: to find a safe and identifiable niche in the family and the community and to position themselves to survive. Anxiety regulates behavior and alerts the child to the dangers of being one-down, unattended to, or at a loss. A child comes to think of himself as the personality he gets recognition for or, in others words, as the set of patterns of action and habits of thought that get him out of childhood in one piece. That set, raised to adulthood, is…the calculating self. (from the book “The Art of Possibilities” by Rosamund Stone Zander)

Competitive Self: “Our whole sense of self is dependent upon the way we compare ourselves with others and upon the differences we can identify. It is upon these positive or negative distinctions that much of our self-esteem depends. It does not take much reflection to realize that in all family problems, ace conflicts, class confrontations, and national or international disputes, these real or imaginary distinctions play a central role. Thus, we define ourselves in ways that require us to maintain distance from one another. Giving up dividing lines and relinquishing difference and distinction would mean losing our identities!” (from the book “Compassion” by Henri Nouwen)

Both of these are products of a progressive society. At the root of both the calculating self and the competitive self is the idea of usefulness. Are you useful? Do you contribute to society? If not, what’s wrong with you? If so, how much? It’s a never-ending spiral of continually trying to prove yourself and to prove your worth. It drives you to create an identity around what you see helps you survive and also, around what you see makes you distinct from others. It is a created and manufactured identity and because you created it, you must sustain it. You can see how by just trying to sustain this type of manufactured identity it leads to the many physical and mental disorders that we see today.

To be awakened from the state of amnesia is to have Jesus call you by name. Those whom Jesus has called He has set free and they are free indeed. But that freedom has a responsibility and that responsibility is a constant quest for the truth. The truth about who we really are in the eyes of our Father, God. The truth about what He has destined us to do with our lives. The truth about how that destiny is to assist in building a new humanity or the kingdom ‘on earth as it is in heaven’.

To be ‘born again’ is to be woken up by Jesus and realize that you have a lot to learn about both Him and yourself. The paradox is that as you learn about Him, you learn about yourself as well. Our identity is His identity. We find ourselves in Jesus and eventually, He finds himself in us. It’s not something we create; it’s something we find through an ongoing quest for our new identity.

Enjoy the journey.