July 4, 1997
Here we are in the middle of 1997. Time marches on . . . Today our
country celebrates another birthday, 221 and still counting. However, in
the great land of the free and the home of the brave, many are not really
free and it seems that more are brave to do evil than those who are brave
to stand up for Christ and His Word.
I must say that bravery has never been my strong suit. Something life
changing happened to me over 32 years ago that I, unfortunately, have not
spoken of to very many people throughout the intervening years. It was
on February 7, 1965, that I repented of my sins and asked Jesus Christ to
forgive me for all the bad things I had done. That was the best day of
my life and has changed the course of my personal history for ever. He
made me free that day.
John 8:36 says "If the Son therefore shall make
you free, ye shall be free indeed".
I really did not know what had
happened to me that night but I felt joy and happiness that I had never
experienced before. All of a sudden God was real to me and His Word, the
Bible, actually made sense for the first time. Much has happened to me
since that time some of which, because of my sinfulness, I regret. But
through it all God has been patient and merciful to me. He gave me a
patient and loving wife and two great kids.
Many times in the first few years after I had become a Christian, I
wanted to tell my friends and relatives what had happened to me. But
because of my timidity, I always put it off for another time. Now the
time is far spent. The problem is that after studying the Bible, I found
out that this life changing event that had happened to me needs to happen
to everybody.
In John 3:3 Jesus said to Nicodemus, "Verily, verily, I
say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of
God."
Being born again is further explained in this same chapter of John
where Jesus said,
"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only
begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have
everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the
world; but that the world through him might be saved. He that believeth
on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already,
because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.
And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men
loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil."
The key word is . Many people say they believe in Jesus but they
can not understand the Bible, they do many things that Jesus said are
wrong, and they live their life with little thought about whether or not
they are pleasing God. That was the way my life was. Church on Sunday
but cursing during the week. And many other sinful deeds were in my
life. I did not realize how sinful I was and that my sins were the
reason Jesus died. He suffered and bled for me but I was sinning against
Him. He loved me but I had little regard for Him. I was a sinner and
the Bible says,
"For the wages of sin is death." Romans 6:23.
The night of February 7, 1965, I was attending a youth rally at my home
church. At the end of the service, the speaker invited people to come
forward to – I don’t know what. All that I know is that during the first
verse of the song that was being sung, I decided to go forward at the
beginning of the second verse. I was only in the second pew so the place
to kneel at the front of the church was only a few feet away. As I left
my place to walk forward, God in His mercy knowing how ignorant I was,
opened my eyes to show me that I was a sinner on my way to hell. My sins
drove the nails into the hands of Jesus. My using His name in vain was
hurting Him. In just the few steps it took to walk to the front and
kneel, I had begun weeping over what I was doing to Jesus. I didn’t know
what to say to Him and no one offered to help me as I was kneeling in
prayer. Somehow I prayed the right thing because soon my tears were
tears of joy and I felt that I had been forgiven. I was happy as I had
never been before. All of a sudden I realized that God was real and the
Bible was true. I was amazed how God had gotten me to this place in my
life because we had moved several times and I might never have had this
experience to happen to me if I had not been at this church. I had a bad
cold and with all the crying I was quite a mess. But as I walked out
into the cold snow packed street that evening, my life had just begun -
again.
"Therefore, if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature, old
things are passed away, behold, all things are become new."
2 Corinthians 5:17.
What happened to me on that night so many years ago is not uncommon.
Over and over throughout the years since Jesus was crucified, buried, and
resurrected, men and women have called on Him and He has saved them from
their sins.
Romans 10:13 says "For whosoever shall call upon the name of
the Lord, shall be saved."
So, you may say, what does that have to do with me? The problem is Jesus
didn’t say being born again is optional. He said no one can see the
kingdom of God without being born again. And everyone who doesn’t
believe in Him is condemned already because they love darkness rather
than light.
The big problem for all of mankind is that we are sinners. The Bible
says:
For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God. Rom. 3:23
As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one. Rom. 3:10
The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can
know it? Jeremiah 17:9
Sin is such a serious matter that Paul said in
2 Timothy 1:15: This is a
faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came
into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief.
If you do not see yourself as a sinful person, please consider what the
Word of God has to say about this matter and prayerfully ask God to
reveal to your own mind and heart the sins you have committed against
Him. If you truly wish to know God and be forgiven by Him, you will have
to confess to Him that you have gone astray and your sins have hidden His
face from you. The way to come to God is by humbling yourself before Him
and acknowledging that you have sinned against Him. He will lift you up
if you call upon Him out of a sincere and contrite heart.
Jesus said, "Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I
will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am
meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my
yoke is easy, and my burden is light." Matthew 11:28-30.,
This is the most important thing I have to tell you and I hope you will
seek the Lord while He may be found. I can not tell what will happen to
you if you accept Jesus Christ as your personal Savior, but I know 100
years from now, you will be glad you did.
Rico Born: 9/29/45 Born Again: 2/7/65
It would be a privilege to communicate with anyone about their desire to
know and serve the Lord Jesus Christ.
