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Born Again - Surrendered
All of us know that God exists, whether we admit it outwardly or not. He's made himself known in Creation and we're without excuse. And we all have a longing to be connected to Him, but our selfishness and rebellion has caused us to become disconnected from Him. We all want to be reconciled with him and try all kinds of ways to do it - religion, philosophy, good works, morality. But all of those leave us empty. Only faith in Jesus will close the gap. And you can't earn it. It's a gift. He gives it to us by his grace. We only have to accept it. He stands at the door and knocks, he wants us to open the door. Open the door today.
Before I fully gave my life to Jesus I thought I was a Christian - but I wasn't. I was only a consumer Christian.
I wore a cross, believed Jesus died and rose again, and accepted His forgiveness for my sins. The problem was, I kept on sinning. I was still focused on myself, trying to live my life on my own terms, with Jesus in the background. I wasn't committed. And, while things looked together on the outside, the result inside was a life of bitterness, resentment, anger, bad habits and disappointment.
Then, through certain circumstances, Jesus entered my life in a big way and I finally felt convicted. I had nowhere to turn other than to fully give my life to Him. That's when I realized what it means to be born again. To die to your old self and become a new creation.
Now I'm a changed person. I died to my old self and now I'm a new creation!
I used to let external sources affect my behavior. I loved people conditionally. But now the things of the world (situations, the words and actions of other people, etc.) don't have such an affect on me anymore. I know now that Jesus loves me and has forgiven me, and that my eternity is secure. And, because of His love for me and the peace it brings, I am free to actively love people now - to love them for Him. Now I love people, not to earn salvation, but, because of it. We love because He first loved us.
I know my eternal life is secure! Now my life is fully his. I know peace, contentment and joy like never before. Now I'm in service to him.
Your testimony matters too