Born by God's Will

But to those who received Him,

to them He gave the right to become children of God,

to those who believe in His name:

who were born,

not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man,

but of God.

John 1:12-13

People choose to have children. Well, most of the time, anyway. Of course, there are always the surprise children, or the uh-oh children, but even the ones that come unexpectedly do not get here without someone having a passing understanding of how babies are made. Even when people adopt, they are doing so by their own will, exercising their right to choose.

In the world, we have a very naturalistic way of looking at the birth of babies. Babies are the result of two tiny, single cells joining together in a natural act to create a new single cell that quickly divides into two cells, which rapidly begin to divide, multiplying exponentially. And here's a random thought while we're on the subject of math. Did you ever realize that the arrival of a baby defies math? Think of it like this. Conception as a mathematical formula is 1 + 1 = 1, which when divided in half produces not two halves, but two wholes. Gestation as a mathematical formula is 1 = 2. Delivery is the culmination, in which 1 + 1 = 3. I'm no mathematician, but that's how things occur in real life.

And the climax of a pregnancy is a messy process, though I cannot speak from experience, having never been present at the birth of a child. There is blood involved, as I understand. It's how babies get here.

But not so with the children of God. Those who receive Christ and believe in Christ, are born--in fact born again, not of corruptible seed, but by the incorruptible seed of the Word of God. And they are not born in blood. They are not born because two people got together and performed any physical act to produce them. They are not born because any person exercised an act of the will in which a baby was produced. The children of God are born completely by the will of God: God doing the choosing, the conceiving, the gestating, and the delivery!

Though there is choosing involved in the heart of the individual--choosing to receive, choosing to believe--the real decision is made in the heart of God, who chose to save us through His only begotten son, that we who believe in Him could become the adopted sons and daughters of God. And I love the way John expresses this act in his first epistle: Behold, what manner of love the Father has given unto us, that we should be called the children of God!