I, Connie, Take Thee, Jesus

     Our BSF lesson this week was about John chapter 3, so naturally, there was lots of discussion about what it means to be born again. Most of the women in my class are much younger in both age and in their Christian walk than I am, so their understanding of, or at least the way they expressed what it means to be born again, was a little fuzzy. However, they are right that there is a process involved in rebirth, and the following illustration from physical birth, was helpful to me. Just as a baby forms secretly and silently for months before its birth, in the same way, God prepares his children to receive Him. But actual birth, both physical and spiritual, is a definite event, the first in time, the second in eternity. 

    Ezekiel 36:26 describes this change as a heart transplant, God replaces our heart of stone with a heart of flesh. Looking back, God prepared me for surgery for many years, in hundreds of ways until (due to my own stubbornness) I was willing to trust Christ. I picture being born again like wedding vows, so today's blog is my personalization of traditional vows.

 

 

I, Connie, take thee, Jesus, 

to be my Lord and Savior, 

to have and to someday hold,

from this day forward, 

for better, for worse,

for richer, for poorer, 

in sickness and in health, 

to love and to cherish, 

to honor and obey.

And death cannot part us.

For then we will love each other 

face to face

forever.