It’s a pretty common past time, I think. To look at a newborn . . . or a toddler . . . a kid . . . even an adult, at times . . . and take note of how much they look like one of their parents. Same face structure . . . same chin . . . same eyes. Not surprising that a child takes on the physical attributes of a parent. And so often it goes beyond just the physical traits . . . how often do you note personality characteristics that are similar between child and parent . . . especially as the child grows older? Some of it’s “nature” . . . some of it’s “nurture” . . . but how often is it true when we say, “He’s the spitting image of his father?” . . . or, “She’s just like her mother?” Someone spoke truth when they said, “That which is born, takes on the nature of that which gave it birth.”

Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’ The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.” (John 3:5-8 ESV)

I don’t hear us using the term “born again” a lot these days. “I found Christ” . . . “I asked Jesus into my heart” . . . “I came to the Lord” . . . seems to be the more common terminology in describing what happened when someone became a Christian. But I’m reminded this morning, that while those things may be true, what happened at the moment that I believed and received the gospel message was that I was born again . . . I underwent a new birth . . . I was made a new creation . . . I was, as Jesus explained to Nicodemus, “born of the Spirit.”

Sparks didn’t jump off my body at the moment of salvation . . . a glow didn’t appear around me . . . but on the authority of Scripture . . . and the reality of what has since transpired . . . I was changed. I was fundamentally rewired . . . brought out of darkness into marvelous light . . . an enemy of God by nature, I became a child of God with a new nature . . . a “sweet tooth” for the things of the world gave way to a craving for the things of the kingdom of God. The things of the natural started being understood in the context of the supernatural . . . life was no longer just about “here below” but started to be lived with one eye fixed on “things above”. Not because I willed these things to be so, but because I was born again . . . I was born of the Spirit . . . and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. In a sense, I’ve got His eyes.

It occurs to me that, as time passes, as the work of sanctification progresses, this guy who was “born of the Spirit” should be becoming more and more of a “spiritual man.” It’s in my regenerated spiritual DNA. It’s in the nature of Him who “begat me” . . . and thus, through rebirth, is in me as well. I’ve been given the mind of Christ (1Cor. 2:16) . . . and so I should be thinking more and more like Him. I have been given everything I need to become a “partaker of the divine nature” (2Peter 1:4) . . . and thus, I should be “doing life” more and more like the Son of God would . . . growing in grace . . . exhibiting the love of God . . . confidently resting in the One who’s will I desire to do. Having been born of the Spirit, I have this wonderful potential to reflect the things of the Spirit.

Having been born of the Spirit . . . and being in “new nature” like the Spirit . . . shouldn’t I desire to be known practically, more and more, as one who is filled and led by the Spirit? Isn’t this what being conformed to the image of Jesus is kinda about? Taking on more and more the attributes of the Son of Man through the rebirth I’ve experienced and the reshaping He has undertaken in me? Shouldn’t I, as a child of God, expect that some of His attributes would be known in me to some degree as He takes to completion that transforming work He began in me the day was born again? Shouldn’t it be noticeable by others . . . shouldn’t someone say, “He’s got His eyes?” I’m thinkin . . .

Oh, that I would not be unaware or complacent concerning the work begun in me when I was born again. Might I desire to “live up” to my heritage . . . by His grace. Might I yearn to be more and more like Him . . . for His glory. After all . . . I’ve got His eyes . . . amen?