Even a child knows that January is the first month of our calendar year. For the ancient people of Israel, however, the first month of the year was the month of Abib, which roughly equates to our month of April. Speaking of Abib, God said,

“This month shall be unto you the beginning of months: it shall be the first month of the year to you” (Exodus 12:2).

If you are wondering why God chose April as the beginning of months for His chosen people, we learn the reason in the next chapter:

“Moses said unto the people, Remember this day, in which ye came out from Egypt….This day came ye out in the month Abib” (Exodus 13:3,4).

God wanted His ancient people to “remember” that their birth as a nation marked a new beginning for them, so he instructed them to “observe” this month as something special unto the Lord (Deut. 16:1). God’s people today often do the same with their spiritual birthdays. Many who can tell you the exact date they were saved consider the day worth remembering each year.

But what if you can’t remember the day you trusted Christ as your Savior? There are many believers who grew up under the sound of the gospel and were saved at an early age. Occasionally we hear from these dear saints, who tell us they are troubled by the fact that they cannot remember the day they were saved. Since they can’t remember the date, some even wonder if they are truly saved.

When we hear from believers like this, we like to point out that while we can’t remember the day we first understood that we were born an American citizen, now that we know it to be so, we know that all the rights promised to citizens in the Bill of Rights are ours. In the same way, while you may not remember the day of your spiritual birth, now that you believe, you can be sure that the promise of eternal life and all the other blessings found in Paul’s epistles are yours.

The point is, of course, that it doesn’t matter when you first believe something; what matters is what you believe right now. If you believe you can get to heaven by something that you yourself can do, you are not saved. If you rather believe you are going to heaven because of what Christ did for you on Calvary, we’ll see you someday in glory!

To the Reader:

Some of our Two Minutes articles were written many years ago by Pastor C. R. Stam for publication in newspapers. When many of these articles were later compiled in book form, Pastor Stam wrote this word of explanation in the Preface:

"It should be borne in mind that the newspaper column, Two Minutes With the Bible, has now been published for many years, so that local, national and international events are discussed as if they occurred only recently. Rather than rewrite or date such articles, we have left them just as they were when first published. This, we felt, would add to the interest, especially since our readers understand that they first appeared as newspaper articles."

To this we would add that the same is true for the articles written by others that we continue to add, on a regular basis, to the Two Minutes library. We hope that you'll agree that while some of the references in these articles are dated, the spiritual truths taught therein are timeless.

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