5 MISCONCEPTIONS ABOUT BEING BORN AGAIN

Jesus answered, I tell you the truth, and no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of the water and the spirit. (John 3:5)

Therefore if anyone be in Christ he is a new creation, the old has gone, the new is here.(1 Corinthians 5:17)

As human beings we are born sinners and require a new nature to be able to have a relationship with God . This regeneration is what has been termed “becoming born again” or “salvation”. In this post I will use the terms born again and being saved interchangeably. Being born again like any other change is not an easy decision to make. It requires the grace of God for one to be and stay saved. Once the nature of a man is changed their responsibilities and convictions change with them. The spirit man in them yearns and hungers for completely different thing than he used to when he was unsaved. 

I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not,but what I hate I do. (Romans 7:15)

Paul in this verse addresses the greatest struggle a born again Christian faces and that is one of battling their old nature daily. As much as the spirit is renewed, the flesh has to be trained everyday to submit to the spirit and yes, it’s a battle. As a born again Christian you are required to die to your fleshly desires to give room for your spiritual desires to be made manifest. 

I’ll present a very extreme illustration but bare with me it’s just to get the message across. For example your spirit used to be a dog and it found its greatest delight in eating raw foods and would dig for gold in trash cans. Now you have become a human being, it would be unwise of you to keep eating out of the trash because that is actually harmful for humans. As much as it would be hard for you to change looking at trash as food, you would still need to change your diet  for your own good. Similarly, the reason why one must die to their fleshly desires is because their new man requires other things for his nourishment i.e. prayer, reading the word, obedience etc. Without these disciplines one will not come to a true understanding of what being born again means and this is what leads to various misconceptions  about being born again(Habakkuk 4:6).

Owing to this, this blog has been written to address the 5 popular misconceptions about being born again and why they are nothing but myths. 

This list is not in any particular order.

You will never get sick.

This notion is erroneous and results in  born again Christians feeling like they have offended God and sickness is their punishment .This is not the case. To put this in better perspective we need to go back to certain fundamental facts; 1.God is all knowing  and 2. God is sovereign  and  because of these attributes He will have  mercy on who He has mercy on . The reason why Job suffered greatly(The book of Job)  is not the same as the reason why the blind man was born blind(John 9:1-12) but both were caused by God Himself and resulted in Him glorified.

As we can see, sickness is not  a sign of unbelief but rather the act of God's sovereignty on our lives.

What happens to us is not  for our comfort  but by God and for His glory .

As a christian there is no need to feel bad or be in a state of denial about whatever physical ailment  you are suffering from. Yes," by His stripes you are healed"(Isaiah 53:3-7 )  but accepting that you are actually sick will be the first step in praying and believing for your healing.

Prosperity vs being born gain .

How much money you have is not a measure of how saved you are.

There are two extremes when it comes to the born again christian and prosperity. Some people believe the more money you have , the more God is blessing you and therefore you are saved and God is working in your life .Others say you are a sinner for having a lot of money because money is the root of all evil .

 Both of these are errors.

 Abraham was one of the richest men in the bible .Although he was rich in the eyes of man ,wealth did not amount to anything when it came to his loyalty towards God. As much as money and power have a way of enticing you to do evil, the true treasure is in a man's heart. A man that is under constant communion with God(a born again man) will constantly be reminded that worldly gain is here today and gone tomorrow and will be given more grace to fight the temptation that comes with money and power.

On the other extreme we  have the widow that gave her last coin (Mark 12:41-44,Luke 21;1-4) .Her selfless giving  truly shows that being poor does not  mean you are less conversant with God. God in his all omnipotence knows why He is keeping others poor and letting others be rich.

Regardless of their financial situation, if their heart is regenerate they are born again Christian! 

You will never fail.

Failure is necessary for progress...

Many people think of failure as the end of the road , “if i try and fail it means it cant”...

The reason why a lot of people will not pursue their God given dream is  the fear of failure .

Because of this  one would think "If God loves me He will not let me  fail" or "If I fail it is a sign that God doesn't want me to do this".

This results in a lot of genuinely born again Christians working hard in their "spiritual activities" but nothing physically seems to be showing any progress.

God will chasten those he loves(Hebrews 12:6) .He will discipline us in any way possible if He believes it's for our good . This also includes allowing us to fail.

I remember in my first year of being born again I was in my first year of college . All I could think about is attending church events . When I heard people say "focus on your school" I felt like they just didn't get it. I was seeking first the kingdom of God and all else was practically useless to me😅.Long story short, I changed from being an A* student in my Pre-Med the previous year to having 3 supplementary exams out of my 5 courses.I was not bothered at all because I believed this as not my calling anyway .Two weeks later I went back to school and  was shocked to find one of my mentors writing the exam too and he was actually sad about it . This made me wonder why  this spiritual man was so worried about a worldly exam? why was it so important for him to be one of the best in the class ? 

The answer to those questions is the reason why from then on I vowed to never take my physical achievements lightly . God took me to Daniel who was the epitome of excellence in his day and how that changed the whole nation in the long run(Daniel 1-2). He also took me to the parable of the talents(Matthew 25:14-30) and told me by not working hard in my school I was being the servant who did not multiply his talents .The  master was definitely not happy with him . Until today I take everything ,even my seemingly secular duties,as a reflection of the glory of God.

Where did this life changing discipline come from? FAILURE!

A wise man will take failure as a learning tool to catapult them to better understanding .God ,being the good father, will not rid you of this opportunity to learn.

Born again people are perfect.

Sometimes the reason why people believe born again Christians are perfect is because of the way we present ourselves to everyone else .Sometimes its just people’s assumptions. 

This section will address two sets of people the born again Christians themselves and everyone else .

To us born again Christians below are some things that we need to remember to keep in mind and not come off as unnecessarily "holier than thou": 

♦We have all fallen short of the glory of God(Romans 3:23) and need saving on a daily basis meaning you are not better than everyone else.

 ♦No one is sinless and therefore we must not be hardhearted when being corrected . We don't know everything

♦Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers (2 Corinthians 6:14) remember iron sharpens iron(Proverbs 27:17).This does not mean you can not talk to a non believer . You are the light of the world (Matthew 5:14-16) and your genuine unconditional love for people is what will make them see God in you. 

♦Respect your leaders and authorities even if they are not born again Christians.

♦Do not fake it until you make it . Like physical growth, you can't feel or see yourself growing , you just realize you are a size  bigger. Similarly if you don't have a certain spiritual understanding yet or you are not walking in a certain seemingly  popular revelation continue praying and trusting God for change your life but do not fake it.

To everyone else:

♦Born again people are not perfect 

♦They are not immune to bad decisions

♦They are not immune to sin

Being a born again christian is not a list of do's and don'ts it is a total transformation of the spirit man into a new creation which still  requires a lot of physical discipline.  If you see someone living in a way that is unarguably wrong while they profess to be born again Christian it could be that they are born again its just that they have more  visible struggles than other.

Jesus was the only perfect man to walk  the earth.

💥Bonus💥 

You don't have to be Pentecostal or speak in tongues to be born again . As much as it is a term mostly used in the Pentecostal movement , salvation is the work of Gods grace and it happens to everyone.

Conclusion

Being born again is the greatest gift that has been given to humanity by his Creator and yet like any other good thing different myths have perversed the miracle of salvation .

Don’t fear to accept Christ because you feel you can't live up to certain expectation . If you  are truly repentant you are in safe hands.

        📝Reader’s contribution 

Do you have any other misconceptions you would want to share ? 

What are the reasons why people fear being associated with being Christian ?