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Today is a special day with something to celebrate … a birthday!

Life is a precious gift from God, given to the first man, Adam—“God … breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul” (Genesis 2:7)—and then given to each one of us in turn.

“He [God] giveth to all life, and breath, and all things” (Acts 17:25). We were created by God and given the gift of life! From conception to birth, He formed us and fashioned us with a loving hand (Psalm 119:73, 139:13-14). Life is something to be thankful for and to celebrate.

Birthdays are a special time of joy and happiness, but everyone needs to have a second birthday.

Everyone needs new life. Jesus once said, “Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” This puzzled the man to whom Jesus was speaking. He asked, “How can a man be born when he is old? can he enter the second time into his mother’s womb, and be born?” But Jesus wasn’t talking about a second physical birth. He was talking about a spiritual birth. “That which is born of the flesh is flesh,” Jesus answered, “and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit” (see John 3:1-6).

Just as we have physical life, we need to have spiritual life.

Our mother brought us into our earthly family on our first birth day. God’s Holy Spirit brings us into God’s family on our second birth day! Being born again is not something that happens in the body; it is something that happens in the heart.

Our physical life is only temporary. One day we will die. But any person who has received God’s new life and been born into His family will live forever in Heaven with Him when this life is over. The Bible says, “It is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment” (Hebrews 9:27). If we have only been born once, we will die twice—a physical death, and an eternal death of the soul described as the “second death” in the “lake of fire” (Revelation 20:11-15). But if we have been born twice, receiving the new life that Jesus offers us, we will only die once. The Bible says of God’s wonderful, eternal city with no sickness, pain or sorrow; with gates of pearl and a golden street—“There shall in no wise enter into it any thing that defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination, or maketh a lie: but they which are written in the Lamb’s [Jesus’] book of life” (Revelation 21:27).

Just as physical life is a gift from God, spiritual life is a gift, too.

A gift isn’t earned; it is freely given. We cannot earn new life or a spiritual birth by good works or religious rituals. It is a gift freely offered to us by Jesus Christ. Romans 6:23 says, “The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”

On our physical birthday, all the decisions were made by others without consulting us. But none of us will have a second birthday—a spiritual birthday—without choosing it for ourselves.

How can we make this decision?

How can we reach out to God and ask Him for this precious gift of new life, eternal life? Jesus continued His conversation with the man who’d been puzzled about the new birth, the way to enter God’s family, and the way to new and everlasting life.

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved” (John 3:16-17).

God’s gift of eternal life, the new birth that happens in the heart and takes us into God’s family —is received by faith in Jesus Christ. Recognize your need of forgiveness and new life, give up self-effort, and place your faith in Him to forgive your sins and give you the gift of a second birth. The Bible tells us that Christ, the Son of God, “died for our sins … was buried … and … rose again the third day” (1 Corinthians 15:3-4). Now He is in Heaven, ready and willing to give the gift of salvation and new life to anyone who will call on Him. In Romans we read, “whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved” (Romans 10:13).

If you choose to accept His gift, you will have a second birthday—TODAY!

And that is something to celebrate! “Joy shall be in heaven over one sinner that repenteth” (Luke 15:7).

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