Jesus answered, “I assure you, unless someone is born anew, it’s not possible to see God’s kingdom.” — John 3:3
I started out as, and still consider myself to be, a “born again” Christian. But that phrase has changed and expanded a bit over the decades.
The default setting is that, when you’re born again because you’ve repented of your sin and accepted Christ as your savior, you’re saved from an evil, dark world. In a sense, you’re “born out of” that world and destined to go to heaven. You should spend your time helping others who are lost find salvation from a place that’s doomed.
The longer I grew in the faith, though, the more I discovered that I got my direction wrong. I wasn’t born out of the world but I was born anew into it.
Really, isn’t creation good, because God made and called it good? And didn’t Jesus bless creation by being born into it, experiencing it fully? And, further, didn’t Jesus call us to proclaim the kingdom of God, a kingdom that affirms the power of a love that overcomes hate and a justice that redeems the marginalized? Isn’t our mission affirming that God has already defeated human evil, vanquishing the cross with the Resurrection?
To believe that the world is bad and that we need to be saved from it simply gives too much power to the evil people do. Such evil stands no chance against God’s power and love. We’re born anew into the world to prove it.
The psalmist got it right: “The Lord rules! Let the earth rejoice!” (Psalm 97:1) The duty of us born again Christians is rejoicing more and judging less.