When I was eight, an Oakfield Baptist church member canvased our neighborhood and invited families to attend their Wednesday night children’s program. It sounded fun, and I wanted to go, even if it meant going alone. That evening, I boarded their bus and went to church for the first time. They ushered me into a musty, windowless basement filled with children I did not know. The teacher told me about the love of Christ. She didn’t tell me that Christ died on the cross for me because I was separated from God and needed forgiveness. Those things were undoubtedly true. But that is not why I was saved that day.
Instead, my childish heart saw that God loved me—then, today, now, and forever. I didn’t get saved to escape hell or to receive the forgiveness of sin. We were an unchurched family, and I didn’t even know about hell or that my sins needed something called “forgiveness.”
The Holy Spirit showed me that God loved me right then, the way I was, and it was unconditional, forever love. When I saw the incredible depth of this love—so wide, so high, so deep—I knew God was the one place where I was completely safe and accepted. I returned home as a brand-new spiritual creation. I realized something was different. I was spiritually alive, but I didn’t know that either.
You might think my childhood experience was an oversimplification of the gospel. Yes, and that was the beauty of it. It wasn’t religious. It wasn’t about right and wrong or my behavior. It was only about the goodness of God filling a deep, soulish need for unconditional love and acceptance. God replaced the chasm of emptiness in my heart with His love and power.
The most important thing that happened that day was that I received Christ’s life. It might surprise you that I didn’t say the forgiveness of sins. At birth, our greatest need was more than forgiveness of sin. What good is forgiveness of sins if you are still spiritually dead and separated from the love and life of Father God to say “no” to sin? We were born needing life even more than forgiveness. Without life, we cannot access God’s overcoming power to say “no” to temptation. Jesus explains it simply in John 3:36, “He who believes in the Son of God has eternal life.” Eternal life is God’s life. That is our greatest need.
I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.
Galatians 2:20
The old man died that day, and I was raised in Christ, a new creation. The faith needed to accomplish this was so simple it is ridiculous. It was all based on God’s love. I was not seeking power, a better life, or a ticket to heaven. My empty heart longed for the one thing it desperately needed—life.
HERE ARE FOUR THINGS THAT HAPPEN AT NEW BIRTH:
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- LOVE: The love of God was poured out into our hearts. What did God pour out into the believer’s heart? Himself. God is love. He poured out His own spiritual life, making us His children. (Romans 5:5; 1 John 4:16)
- LIFE: We received the life of God as an inheritance. An inheritance is always a gift, not earned by good behavior. Father God imparted His resource, the Holy Spirit, to His children as a source of healing, freedom, and victory. Like David, who provided everything Solomon needed to build the temple, God has provided everything we need to live as temples of the Holy Spirit. (Galatians 3:24; Romans 8:16-17)
- ACCESS: Through co-death and resurrection, God left the old man in the grave, and a new man in Christ was raised and seated in heavenly places. We received access to the overcoming power of God to love ourselves and others. (Ephesians 2:6, 18)
- PURPOSE: We are created in Christ to walk in good works. We are now God’s fellow workers. Nothing is emptier than trying to fill our soul with the temporal pleasures and pursuits of the world. Rather than searching for or demanding love, we walk in good works as we share God’s love with others. (Ephesians 2:10; 1 Corinthians 3:9)
As dearly loved sons and daughters full of new life, we now rest in the inheritance God gave us. An inheritance is a gift, but how easily we forget. As a new Christian, I soon discovered that many people try to earn and maintain a right standing with God, which leads to fear and doubt. Our inheritance of the Spirit—Christ’s life—gave us three benefits that put off striving and the fear of rejection, abandonment, or punishment.
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- We can now love God, others, and ourselves from the overflow of God’s love. No more searching for and trying to earn love. No more trying to maintain acceptance. Abiding in Christ is to be at home in the love of God. Love is the overflowing fruit that excludes striving and earning.
- Now, the life of God wills and works in us to love ourselves and others for love’s sake. Love teaches us to say “no” to sin because sin hurts us and others. The more we grow in the knowledge of God’s love, the more love must be expressed, shared, and bestowed for no other reason than love must love. Love is an action that supercedes feeling.
- We now have access to God. We don’t need to try to be good enough for God. God placed us securely in His Son, now the source of goodness in us. When you have God’s love, you have all of God’s love to share. When we share God’s love, we are walking according to the Spirit, and the Spirit puts off the deeds (unwanted habits, thoughts, and angsty feelings) of the flesh.
Easter is the celebration of Christ’s death and resurrection. It also celebrates the old man’s death and the death of the power of sin and emptiness. We have received the fullness of God in Christ.
HOW DO WE LIVE THE CHRISTIAN LIFE OF LOVE?
The same way we entered Christ’s saving life—simple childlike faith. You came to Christ based on the completed work of Another. Not only do you enter the kingdom of God like a child, but you must live in the kingdom of God like a child. Children do not try to earn love. You didn’t earn or understand or promise to maintain your salvation. You trusted God, who sums up all things in Christ. You trusted God for victory over death. Now, trust God for supernatural victory in every other area of your life.
It is so easy that it is hard. Our intellect and the lie that we are accepted based on performance get in the way. That is why Jesus said we enter and live in the kingdom and glory of God like a child. What brings God glory? When His love defines your identity and your actions. Jesus said that men would know you are my disciples when you love one another. Love brings God glory because love makes God known to the world.
The love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.
Romans 5:5
God bless you this Easter with a fresh awareness that love is more than a feeling. It is God Himself abiding in you to fill you with lasting joy, peace, and resurrection power.
Christ—love—is the source of resurrection power for whatever today holds.
Theresa Slabbekoorn
Executive Director
Life Center of Grand Rapids