The Birthday That Really Matters

Today I celebrate birthday number 33. My folks are coming over tonight to watch the kids so that my bride and I can go out to eat. I can't wait to have some chicken fingers and a little carrot cake at J. Alexander's!

Over the last few years, my birthday has been a day for me to really reflect on the brevity of life and on what really matters in life. For my 30th birthday, I wrote a little piece called "In My Next Thirty Years." Everything I said then is exactly what I feel three years later.

Today, I also reflect on the birthday that really matters. Over and over again, the Bible talks about the need for every person to be "born again." What this means is that every person needs God to change them from the inside out. Until God changes our hearts, it doesn't really matter what we commit to do. Here's how Andy Stanley puts it:

“Until you’ve been born again, it doesn’t really matter what you try to do. If there’s not a rebirth experience, nothing else really matters. . . . Before you try harder. Before you try to turn over a new leaf. And before you try and change all those habits. And before you try and commit to be a better husband and wife and parent. First, you must be born again.”

Being "born again" is not something that we earn or deserve. It's a gracious gift of God that allows us to surrender every area of our lives to Jesus Christ. When we're "born again," we are never the same because our priorities, our desires, and our lives experience a radical makeover. As Ephesians 2:4-5 explains, we're spiritually dead, and nobody but God can wake us up:

"But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved."

So yes, I'm thankful to God for birthday #33 today. But I'm much more thankful to God for the day that He woke me up spiritually--the day He rescued me from sin, adopted me into His family, and gave me eternal life. That's the birthday that really matters to me.