Born Again - Part II

Impulsive, Hot Tempered, Insightful, Courageous, Fiery and Vengeful, Selfish, Conceited, Judgmental, Bold, Loving, Compassionate, Enthusiastic, Inquisitive, Resourceful, Practical, Helpful, Literal and Confused, Skeptical, Honest, Faithful, Hospitable, Doubtful, Patriotic, Loyal, Sacrificial, Greedy, Deceitful, Treacherous.

Can you identify with any of these words? Be honest do any of them describe you? 

Let's take a look at some people in history who these words describe and gain some hope from their stories. You see these words are descriptive of the 12 original disciples.

Peter was Impulsive and Hot Tempered but later he was Insightful and Courageous.

James and John were Fiery and Vengeful but later they became Committed and Compassionate.

Andrew was Inquisitive and Resourceful.

Bartholomew was Skeptical but Helpful. 

Matthew was Hospitable.

Thomas was Doubtful but Faithful.

Thaddaeus was Inquisitive and sometimes Confused.

Simon was Patriotic and Loyal.

Judas was Greedy and Deceitful.

The point I want to make is these 12 men were not much different than you and me yet Jesus chose them to be His disciples. He chose to hang with them and the ones He hung with most were the ones who had bigger faults. I believe it is more important to know what they became instead of focusing on what they were. God is not looking for people who will become perfect on their own and then come to Him. The church would be completely empty because none of us will ever be perfect in this life. In fact not even the pastors would be there since they are no different than we are. Their born again experience was a process that for some took years. The point is what God did through these imperfect men should give us hope for what He can do through us.

For all of us being "Born Again" will be a life long process that will begin when we accept Jesus Christ as our savior and receive the Holy Spirit at being baptised. Some will experience changes very rapidly while others will discover them through the process of being involved with a healthy church. The really GOOD NEWS is all of us will truly be "Born Again" at death.