Have you ever heard the phrase “born again”? To some people, born again is a certain type of Christian who tends to vote in a certain type of way, but is that true? What did born again mean to Jesus when he used it years ago? 

When you were born, two things happened: You were (1) passively pushed into (2) a new kind of life. You were passive, because your mom did the painful pushing. And when that happened, you entered a new kind of life. You had life before, life in the womb, but this life was different. You got to see and experience a whole new world. 

The same two things help us understand Jesus’ metaphor. When you are born again, you are passively pushed; that is, you receive life due to the pain and work of another (Jesus/the Holy Spirit). As Jesus himself taught, this is a life you are given, not one that you work for or automatically get from your parents (John 1:13). And what a life it is! After becoming a Christian, everything is different. You see everything with new eyes—your purpose, your time, your money, your body, your work, your behavior, your death, your entire life.

This is what it means to be born again. That is what it takes to see the kingdom of God. “No one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again” (John 3:3).