I was having difficulty with my old blog because those who commented would comment on my AOL account and I don't check that account very often, so the comments might be there for days without me responding. I may continue with both, though that is probably a little unrealistic... I don't even have the time to do one.
It has been quite some time since I have written on any blog and so thought I'd get busy and get some a new post up.
Winter has arrived in earnest in New Hampshire. We have about a foot of snow in the yard with a couple more inches added last night. Mr. D has plowed the driveway at least three times and I've had to walk part of it a couple times. He hasn't been feeling too well the past couple of weeks so I was tending to the chickens and picking up produce and other stuff that he usually does. I'm just glad I didn't have to plow the driveway!!! I'm not sure what would have happened... probably we'd have been digging the truck out of the ditch... that's why we have Triple A.
Well, hope everyone is well.
I want to wish you all a very happy Christmas. Isn't it a wonderful time of the year?
On my way to work the other day I saw a bumper sticker that said something like...
"If you're born again do you have 2 belly buttons?"
I'm sure the owner thought this to be a bit of a dig on "born again Christians" and it is very scarcastic, but it made me stop and think about a man in the Bible who asked a similar question of Jesus. In John 3 we read about this conversation:
There was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews:
The same came to Jesus by night, and said unto him, Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher come from God: for no man can do these miracles that thou doest, except God be with him.
Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.
Nicodemus saith unto him, How can a man be born when he is old? can he enter the second time into his mother's womb, and be born?
Well, Nicodemus knew who Jesus was and he realized that Jesus was a great teacher. I'm not sure and the Bible doesn't tell us if he was being "scarcastic" in his comment, but it certainly came to mind when I saw that bumper sticker (can a man climb back into the womb and be born again?).
Jesus sets him on the right path with an answer to his question:
Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again.
The narrative goes on from there and is very interesting, but I will not post it all.
The truth for the young man with the bumper sticker and for Nicodemus is that the new birth is a spiritual birth and is exactly why God sent His Son as a baby to this world. When we celebrate Christmas, let's remember the most precious gift of all. We can be "born again" into the family of God because He gave the precious gift of His own Son, Jesus to take away our sin.
I hope you have experienced the "new birth". If not, why not?
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. John 3:16
Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers;
But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot:
Who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you,
Who by him do believe in God, that raised him up from the dead, and gave him glory; that your faith and hope might be in God.
Seeing ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren, see that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently:
Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever.
For all flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass. The grass withereth, and the flower thereof falleth away:
But the word of the Lord endureth for ever. And this is the word which by the gospel
is preached unto you.
I Peter 1
Merry Christ mas!
Mrs. D
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