B is for Baptism

Some people close their eyes and get sprin­kled. Others hold their noses and get dunked. Some people receive it as infants while others as adults. But how­ever it’s done, most Christians view bap­tism as a sign of reli­gious purifi­ca­tion and con­se­cra­tion. Specifically, that the act rep­re­sents the for­give­ness of sin that comes through faith in Jesus Christ, God the Son. It’s sym­bolic of moving from the dark­ness of our sinful nature into the light of truth.

Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make dis­ci­ples of all nations, bap­tizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey every­thing I have com­manded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” ~Matthew 28:18–20

Now this is where every­thing gets a bit more mud­dled. While some Christians prac­tice a believers bap­tism where the rite is received upon a dec­la­ra­tion of faith, others view it as an act of receiving God’s gift of grace without any nec­es­sary proac­tive human action, and will bap­tize infants and underage chil­dren of Christian par­ents.  Depending on in which camp you’re entrenched, chances are you’re not going to agree with the other on the process. But the end result is the same.

Many think bap­tisms began with that first-century, wild-haired prophet, John the Baptist, who ran around bap­tizing people in the Jordan River. But that would be a total mis­un­der­standing. The Old Testament has plenty of exam­ples of using water to move  from dark­ness into the light… a sign of cleansing and regen­er­a­tion. Take, for example:

Genesis
In the begin­ning God cre­ated the heavens and the earth. Now the earth was form­less and empty, dark­ness was over the sur­face of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hov­ering over the waters. And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. ~Genesis 1:1–3

From dark­ness to light…with water in-between. Awesome.

The Flood
I will bring a flood of waters upon the earth, to destroy all flesh in which is the breath of life under Heaven; every­thing that is on the earth shall die.  But I will estab­lish my covenant with you; and you shall come into the ark, you, your sons, your wife, and your sons’ wives with you.  ~Genesis 6:17–18

Water cleansed every­thing wicked but, because Noah was a right­eous man, he and his family were granted a do-over.

The Exodus
Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and all that night the Lord drove the sea back with a strong east wind and turned it into dry land. The waters were divided, and the Israelites went through the sea on dry ground, with a wall of water on their right and on their left. ~Exodus 21–22

So even though the Israelites didn’t get their san­dals wet, water is def­i­nitely an impor­tant part of this story. When Moses let his hand fall, water (lit­er­ally) washed away the slavish chains of all the men, women and chil­dren fol­lowing God’ guy. Again, water plays a part in cleansing the past of all these fam­i­lies on their journey to freedom.

So, get­ting back to our cur­rent topic…once bap­tized (as an infant or adult), as Christians, we should remember and prac­tice the sig­nif­i­cance of our bap­tism every day by repenting (dying to our old ways) and rising up to walk in new direction.

God’s saving grace is free for those who believe, but let’s also remember we’re all people in progress. Every. Single. Day.

Linking up with ABC Wednesday

 

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