Born This Way…Born Again is the Only Way
Put your paws up if you’ve ever had this question: What do (ahem) Lady Gaga and God have in common?
No really…there is more here than you might think - for example:
- Lady Gaga believes in God: “It doesn't matter if you love him, or capital H-I-M.”
- The Bible believes in God: “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth” (Genesis 1:1, NLT).
- Lady Gaga believes God is perfect: “'Cause God makes no mistakes.”
- The Bible believes that God is perfect: “But you are to be perfect, even as your Father in heaven is perfect” (Matthew 5:48, NLT).
- And finally, Lady Gaga believes that loving yourself and others should be a high priority in life: “Don't hide yourself in regret, just love yourself and you're set.”
- And so does Jesus: “Love your neighbor as yourself” (Mark 12:31, NLT).
So there you have it…who would have thought God’s Word and Gaga’s words would line up in agreement?
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But sadly there is a definite point of disagreement on a very key issue:
Lady Gaga:
No matter gay, straight or bi
Lesbian, transgendered life
I'm on the right track, baby
The Bible:
Don't fool yourselves! No one who is immoral or worships idols or is unfaithful in marriage or is a pervert or behaves like a homosexual will share in God's kingdom. Neither will any thief or greedy person or drunkard or anyone who curses and cheats others (1 Corinthians 6:9-10, CEV).
Notice, though, that homosexual behavior and other types of immorality are in the same list as thieves, drunks, and cheaters. So the Bible isn’t singling out LGBT folks any more than any other types of self-destructive behavior…and neither should we, because we have no room to judge since we all share in humanity’s sinful condition.
And that’s what it comes down to, doesn’t it? We all are all “born this way”…what way? This way:
All of us have sinned and fallen short of God's glory. (Romans 3:23, CEV).
We all fall and fail. We all do and say things that bring physical, emotional, relational, and spiritual destruction. Lady Gaga might sing about a sinful lifestyle being the design God had for her, but I promise you He has something infinitely better for her, and you, and me.
How do I know? Because Jesus had an encounter with the “born this way” guy of His time. His name is Nick, and he was confident that the state of pride and religious passion that he was born into would get him into heaven. But Jesus’ response might surprise you:
There was a man named Nicodemus who was a Pharisee and a Jewish leader. One night he went to Jesus and said, "Sir, we know that God has sent you to teach us. You could not work these miracles, unless God were with you."
Jesus replied, "I tell you for certain that you must be born from above before you can see God's kingdom!" (John 3:1-3, CEV).
Jesus was telling Nicodemus that nothing short of a complete spiritual rebirth would save him and secure his place in heaven. Nick thought that being good and following God’s law would earn Him favor with God, which is why Jesus needed to reveal a critical truth that we all need to hear:
We are all born this way…but being born again is the only way to heaven.
What Nick didn’t realize is that the human labels don’t matter. Straight, gay, lesbian, drunk, thief, boy scout, pastor, priest, or just plain normal person…we all have one thing in common. We are all sinners separated from God and in need of a rebirth. And at the moment we are born again through trusting in Jesus Christ as our only hope of salvation, God comes in and remakes us into the beautiful and unique people He intended us to be!
But there is so much more than just a place in heaven, because this new birth gives us a brand new perspective on life:
We are careful not to judge people by what they seem to be, though we once judged Christ in that way. Anyone who belongs to Christ is a new person. The past is forgotten, and everything is new. God has done it all! He sent Christ to make peace between himself and us, and he has given us the work of making peace between himself and others.
What we mean is that God was in Christ, offering peace and forgiveness to the people of this world. And he has given us the work of sharing his message about peace (2 Corinthians 5:16-19, CEV).
Did you catch that? We see people in a different way, and our primary goal in this life is to help others find peace in this crazy life through trusting in Jesus Christ for salvation.
On April 15th, you have an amazing opportunity to step up THE Cause by engaging people on The Day of Silence. When you walk the halls of your school that day, engage in conversations with people about the whole “born this way” idea, and how we are all born with a predisposition towards behavior that breaks God’s perfect design for life. Pray for an opportunity to share how you’ve been born again and show by how you don’t judge people.
Trust me, God desperately wants the people who are trapped in the “born this way” mindset to find true freedom in being born again as the only way!
Flashpoint: Ignite Into Action
Many Christians (unfortunately) miss a huge opportunity to reach out to a group of students who are probably being bullied more than other groups. Jesus went out of His way all the time to share His message of forgiveness with the most persecuted people of His time, so why aren’t we?
Accelerant: Fuel for THE Cause
Pray: Dear Jesus, please give me the eyes to see people the way you do. Fill me with your Spirit so that I can be used by you on The Day of Silence to share the gospel.
Read: Colossians 1:13-14. For he has rescued us from the kingdom of darkness and transferred us into the Kingdom of his dear Son, who purchased our freedom and forgave our sins (NLT).
Get: For help explaining the key points of the gospel message, check out this free GOSPEL Journey video clip.
