Text: Titus 3:1-8, Ephesians 2:1-10, Romans 8:18-25
When my kids play outside, they get super dirty. We have a wooded area behind our house with a creek and mud and lots of critters. By the time they finally tromp back to the house from one of their adventures, a good bit of that mud and a disconcerting number of critters come right home with them (last weekend my 7-year-old mentioned casually to me that his pocket was full of worms). They’re filthy.
Straight to the bath or shower they go, and if there’s one thing I’ve learned about parenting my *ahem* muddy children, it’s this: no matter how hard they try to do it on their own, they just can’t get themselves clean like I can.
When they’ve finally been washed clean, all wrapped up in a fluffy towel with wet eyelashes and sweet-smelling skin, I can forget about the worms and the bugs and the mud—they are like new. We all feel better.
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So think of being born again as our Heavenly Father bringing us in from the woods, rinsing away our filth like only He can. He washes us clean. Our eyelashes are wet and our skin smells sweet. We are like new.
I think what Paul wants us to see in this passage is a contrast between our dirty, wandering, worms-in-our-pockets human hearts, and—because of the “loving kindness of God”—our washed and renewed selves through the Holy Spirit and Jesus Christ.
The word he uses is “regeneration.” In Latin it means to “create again” and in Greek it’s “paliggenesía” or “birth, beginning.“ The washing of regeneration Paul describes is a complete cleaning in which our filth becomes a distant memory and we as believers are literally a New Creation.
This newness—this born-again freshness that we as believers often forget (but, oh, if we could remember and claim as our identity every new day!) is a foreshadowing, just a glimpse, of what is to come. Like Paul says in Romans 8, we “have the firstfruits of the Spirit.”
That image of my kids all squeaky clean after their baths? And the one of you, wrapped in the fresh towel of God’s mercy? Sisters, close your eyes and now imagine the promised regeneration of the whole world! A new heaven and a new earth!
Only God can do this.
He washed away our filth at our salvation.
He restores us with each new day.
And He will make everything new for His glory.
Lord, if we are in Christ, we are a new creation. Help us find our identities here. Make us clean and new and Yours. And Lord, let that make all the difference.
I love this visual!!!
This brings to mind the inevitable battle that always comes when it’s time to actually wash off my daughter in the bath or shower. She is always content to simply splash around not really getting the dirt off, but when it comes time to scrub or God forbid, was her hair there are tears and protests. When she is done she always says how much better she feels. I am much the same way… I am content to sit in a church pew and dip my toes in without really committing to serving, or skimming over a devotional without really digging into it. But the hard work comes when God starts scrubbing off the old me so his creation can show. It’s when the hard part comes that I often produce tears and protests because it’s not often fun. But when I come out of the trial, or I dig in deeper where He wants me… I see I understand and I am glad I did it His way.
Also if you want song of daily truth check out josh garrels new song born again!!! This passage made me think of it. : )
Daughters of God!!! That is what we are. We’ve been brought near by the blood of Christ. There’s nothing ordinary about that! Let’s never take that in vain!! Love to all you sisters.
“Let us find our identities here.” Not in our failures. Not in our comparisons. But in Jesus, in His LOVINGkindness. In His plans laid out for us like fresh pjs after a that bath. Putting on Christ, making the Gospel beautiful to others so that the entire world can also see!!
Yes! Amen ❤️
I LOVE this! "And the one of you, wrapped in the fresh towel of God’s mercy" What a great picture that is of God hugging us as his little children; in a warm white towel, after cleaning are filth away. I just love that image of God as our caretaker, someone who loves us and cares for us like a parent.
Another part of the commentary that sticks out with today's lesson: "Christians can boldly live the kind of life prescribed in verses 1 and 2, because God has intervened in human history to bring about a change. The whole salvation complex–rebirth and renewal, justification and hope–is reality, grounded in the historical events of Christ's ministry and death/resurrection and in the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. But to experience the new reality, the believer must actively decide to step forward; the reality of the Christian possibility is not experienced through reciting a creed but by performing it in faith." http://www.biblegateway.com/resources/commentarie…
Thanks for sharing!!
I like this commentary from biblegateway.com: "Foolish, disobedient and deceived, the first three terms, are the sorts of words Paul has used to describe the heretics. Foolishness is a stubborn refusal to acknowledge the truth. Disobedience is a culpable condition involving the choice to live in opposition to God (1:16). Underlying these traits is deception. This particular term was often descriptive of the purpose or result of false prophets (2 Tim 3:13; compare Mt 24:10-12; 1 Thess 2:3; Rev 2:20). The source of deception is false teaching, be it worldly philosophies or distorted Christian doctrine. The message to believers is clear: stay away from the doctrines of the false teachers."
http://www.biblegateway.com/resources/commentarie…