TEN FINGERS

TEN TOES

One Miracle

Everyone who has experienced the birth of a child has been overwhelmed by the presence of a new life. Of course, the health of the new baby is the most important thing. The comparisons soon follow…“He looks just like his father,” or “He has his mother’s eyes.” It’s all so amazing.

It is also very clear that the birth of a son or a daughter is more than just a biological process. Someone is behind it all, for only God could have orchestrated the miracle of birth. The book of Psalms tells us that every child is a gift from God (Psalm 127:3). We know God is involved because man has never been able to create life—not human life, animal life, or even plant life. Man cannot claim responsibility for the creation of even one tiny cell. Life itself is the miraculous creation of God.

Another Miraculous Birth

Did you know that there is another miraculous birth for us in this life? God’s Guidebook for us, the Bible, calls it “new birth,” and it is the “entrance” to our eternal life. Although many have experienced it, it is hard to understand. Jesus once told a highly educated religious leader named Nicodemus that he needed to be born again in order to have everlasting life, but even he did not understand. A second birth cannot be observed with the human eye. We can’t confirm it by counting fingers and toes, but it is just as real. Jesus helped Nicodemus understand it this way. He told him that we cannot see the wind, but we know it is there because we can hear it blowing.

The same is true of the new birth. It can’t be seen, but the effects of it are evident. This birth is spiritual rather than physical and brought about by the Holy Spirit of God. When someone’s character is wonderfully changed, we take notice. It is miraculous.

How does God bring about this new birth? The same question was on Nicodemus’ mind. “How can these things be?” He asked Jesus (John 3:9). First, Jesus said that no man has ever been able to ascend to heaven or get to heaven on his own (John 3:13a). We are selfish and do or think wrong things every day, helpless to truly change our spiritual condition. The Bible calls that sin and tells us that sin has rendered man incapable of measuring up to God’s righteous standard. For “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). Death and eternal separation from God will be the end result of our sin, if something doesn’t drastically change!

The only remedy is Jesus Christ who came down from heaven. He came to us through a truly miraculous birth. He had no human father, only a mother. He became a human baby in the person of Jesus, and it was Mary who counted his fingers and toes. He didn’t look any different than other babies, but he was far from ordinary. He was God in human flesh—fully God and at the same time fully human. Because of this, he was uniquely qualified to be our Savior from sin’s consequences without the taint of sin in his own life.

Jesus Christ made the “new birth” possible for us by living a sinless life, then giving up his life for us on a Roman cross. In doing that he took our punishment as the only substitute acceptable to God the Father. “Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous [us!], that he might bring us to God, being put to death” (1 Peter 3:18). Then he rose from the grave three days later, having paid the full price for us.

Would you like a new birth?

Would you like to experience the new birth? You can, through faith. “For by grace you have been saved through faith” (Ephesians 2:8). The kind of faith that brings eternal life is more than just believing the facts of Christ’s death and his resurrection. It also involves personal and complete dependence upon Christ alone for eternal life. The Bible says that to those who receive Jesus as Savior, who place their trust in him, are given “the right to become children of God” (John 1:12). If you are ready to place your faith in Christ and experience a miraculous new birth, this prayer may help you finalize your decision:

Dear Jesus, I have sinned against you and I am in need of forgiveness. I believe that you died for me and rose from the dead. I invite you to come into my life and give me make me one of you own children. I want to experience the miracle of a new birth today!

-Jay Waggoner