Is It Less Genuine if You Don’t Remember the Day It Happened?

A reflection on spiritual birthdays

The disturbing invitation

For the last several weeks our church was holding in-person services before the governor shut everything down, our pastor ended his sermons with an invitation that went something like this:

“If you can’t remember the day you surrendered your life to Jesus, why don’t you come do that now?”

And the invitation bothered me each time I heard it because, unlike some people, I don’t remember the exact date I gave my life to Jesus.

So many potential spiritual birthdays

Was it the day I listened to the cassette recording of kids’ Bible stories and heard the voice of “Jesus,” say, “Come follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men?” And I said in my heart, “Yes, I want to follow You.”

Maybe. That would make sense. And it would explain all the other experiences of God’s presence I had afterward.

Like the day I sat outside watching my parents play tennis on the courts, I saw the sun streaming through the puffy clouds stretched out over the evening summer sky, and I talked to God because I knew He was talking to me.

Or the day I was standing on a literal mountaintop as a youth, and I felt His Spirit so strongly inside me that I knew, without a doubt, that He was real … and I was His.

Maybe it was the day I was in my dorm room in college, and I was in tears as I listened to Jars of Clay’s “Love Song for a Savior” and sang along with them:

“I want to fall in love with You.”

Because I knew that I wasn’t. I knew that I hadn’t been. At least, I hadn’t been living my life as someone who was in love with Jesus.

I remember all those days … and hundreds more like them. But I don’t remember any of the dates.

I don’t even remember the exact date I was baptized

A few years after I told the “Jesus” on that cassette tape I wanted to follow Him — although I actually was talking to the real Jesus; I knew that in my heart — I was baptized.

Was it in April or May? 1985 or 1986? I think it was in May of 1985 … but I can’t be sure.

I’m sure I was baptized. I remember that vividly … although not fondly.

I was in the “dressing room” next to the baptistry of New Salem Baptist Church in Cox’s Creek, Kentucky, in some state of undress, when someone opened the door. I saw the people sitting out in the sanctuary, and I knew that at least some of them must have seen me.

And then I had to go out in front of all of them and be dunked under the water.

The dunking under the water was also a source of some anxiety because I’d already had a near-drowning experience in a hotel swimming pool. Water and I weren’t good friends.

I remember a lot about that day … but not the date.

I remember my daughters’ spiritual birthdays well

My younger daughter actually gave her life to Jesus before her older sister.

I wasn’t expecting that, but God often does things we don’t expect.

It was Wednesday night, May 24, 2017. We were having a church dinner night. She turned to me in the middle of the meal and said, “I need to talk to the pastor about getting saved.”

I said (because I wasn’t entirely sure she knew what she was talking about; she was six years old), “Well, he’s eating right now. Maybe we can wait until Sunday.”

My six-year-old daughter replied, “Sunday might be too late.” That’s when I knew she was really being led by the Holy Spirit.

After the pastor finished eating, he talked and prayed with my daughter in his office. She went forward during the invitation the next Sunday, and the Sunday after that she was baptized.

I remember those days … as well as the dates.

My older daughter prayed a prayer, led by her father and myself, on a Tuesday evening — May 29, 2018. How cool is it that we all have “spiritual birthdays” in May? Well, their daddy’s spiritual birthday was actually in April (1977 or 1978; he doesn’t remember the exact date either). But his physical birthday is in May. He’s still got a May connection.

My older daughter still has not been baptized. She doesn’t like the idea of going in front of the whole church like that. And I can’t say I blame her.

I know exactly how that feels.

But I know she has been saved. She is saved…and the Holy Spirit has started the work of sanctification within her heart.

But does the fact that I remember the dates of their decisions, and not my own, make my commitment to Christ any less real?

It’s about every day, not just one

There’s a reason we don’t know when Jesus was born. No, it wasn’t on December 25th. It may have been in October, during Sukkot. It may have been in the spring. Moses died on his birthday (Deuteronomy 31:2), so why couldn’t Jesus?

But the fact is we just don’t know the exact date, other than the fact that it definitely wasn’t the day on which we usually celebrate it. Nor do we know the exact date of His “spiritual birthday,” or the date of His baptism.

There’s a cultural explanation for this. The ancient Jews just weren’t big on celebrating birthdays, and some of them still aren’t. The only time we read about a birthday celebration in the Bible was when the Egyptian Pharaoh was celebrating his (Genesis 40:20). For this reason, and maybe some others, the Jews tend to think of birthday celebrations as mostly pagan practices.

No, I’m not saying we should stop celebrating birthdays. I certainly don’t intend to. But I am saying perhaps we should stop placing so much importance on that one day … and especially as it relates to spiritual “birthdays.”

Because what really matters, in a life of following Christ, is EVERY day.

The French philosopher Voltaire, more a Deist than a follower of Christ, actually hit on this truth very well when he said:

“God gave us the gift of life; it is up to us to give ourselves the gift of living well.”

And, I would add to that, it’s up to us to give God the gift of living well for Him and His glory. We do that by walking in obedience and submission to Him every day — not just on the first day we make the decision, but all the days that follow. We have plenty of scriptural evidence that Jesus did that.

So, what’s the answer to the question posed in the title?

Quite simply, no.

I don’t think the salvation experience is any less real if you don’t remember the exact date it happened for you. And sometimes I wonder about the sincerity of the salvation experience of the person who remembers the date vividly, but they don’t show any real evidence of surrendering every day after that to the Lordship of Christ. But that’s between them.

I want to end with this bit of encouragement. Maybe you’re like me. Maybe you don’t remember the date you surrendered your life to Jesus, but you do remember something about the day and the decision you made for Him, and you’ve been surrendering to Him and His will every day (or pretty much every day) since. I would say your salvation experience was absolutely real.

And if that’s not something you can say with any certainty is true of you, then as long as you’re still on this earth, it’s never too late to make a decision to sing (and mean it with your whole heart) one of my favorite hymns from childhood onward:

“I have decided to follow Jesus I have decided to follow Jesus I have decided to follow Jesus No turning back, no turning back”

Indian traditional hymn, edited by William Jensen Reynolds

Following Him. Every day. No turning back.

That’s something worth celebrating.

This story is published in Koinonia — stories by Christians to encourage, entertain, and empower you in your faith, food, fitness, family, and fun.

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