I love the Jason Bourne stories. Jason Bourne is a fictional character created by Robert Ludlum in books and film. The first film, “The Bourne Identity”, is the intriguing story of what it is like when you forget who you are.
Jason Bourne is a highly trained, specialized agent of the US government who has tremendous ability to fight the enemy, to discern dangerous situations and to think strategically and overcome problems. But, Bourne has forgotten who he is. In one battle with a bad guy Bourne is shot and nearly drowns. The trauma causes him to have amnesia.
At one point Bourne questions who he is because he is sitting in a restaurant and he has observed every car in the parking lot, memorizing every license plate, and can close his eyes and tell you with detail about the appearance of every person sitting in the restaurant. He questions, “Who does this kind of thing?”
It’s a great question because the answer is relevant to his lost identity. The person “who does this kind of thing” is a secret agent.
When a bad guy attacks Bourne, Jason instinctively deflects the enemy’s blows and knocks out his opponent. When hearing a foreign language spoken across the room he not only understands but returns a comment and thereby discovers that he knows that language.
So, let me remind you about your “Born” identity. John tells us that we are children of God who have confidence in our relationship with God. John says that someday Jesus is going to return to this world to judge it and that we look forward to His return because we are without shame.
How did we become children of God, confident and without shame? John says you were born of God. This is something that John elaborates on in the Gospel he wrote. John says that just as you were born physically of a mother and father in this world, you must also be born spiritually of your heavenly Father. When you confess your sin to Christ, ask for His forgiveness and call upon Christ to save you from judgment, John says that is being “born again”. You have been adopted off of the ghetto streets of this world into God’s family.