I recently ran across some pictures of when me, my mom, and my husband were baptized and the boys were dedicated. It was a special day, but I have come to realize that I underestimated how truly special that day was.
The first step in faith is inviting Jesus into our lives. This means granting Him access to every nook and cranny, the good, the bad, and the ugly. After years of following Jesus, He is still bringing to light areas in my life that I am too embarrassed, ashamed, or not ready to surrender to Him. Or, sometimes, He brings something to my attention that I forgot about and was happy to turn over to Him.
The next step in faith is to publicly declare that Jesus is Lord of your life. This is done through baptism. Jesus wants us to publicly identify with Him.
In Mark 8:38, Jesus says, “If any of you are embarrassed over me and the way I’m leading you when you get around your fickle and unfocused friends, know that you’ll be an even greater embarrassment to the Son of Man when he arrives in all the splendor of God, his Father, with an army of the holy angels.” (The Message)
When I was a new believer, I would pray that God would keep me “normal”. I wanted to be an under-the-radar kind of Christian. You know, the one who looked, talked, and acted like everyone else in the world, but still had the Lord’s favor whenever I needed it.
(PRAISING GOD FOR HIS ABUNDANT GRACE!)
Very little about my life, (aside going to church), showed that Christ was my Savior, Redeemer, and Friend. However, God gently guided me, as one does a baby, spoon feeding me little bits here and there, giving me gentle promptings and revelations by testing my spiritual eyes and ears.
When we were baptized, we were ready to tell the world we belonged to Jesus! It is our visible commitment to this fact.
Romans 6:4 says,” We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.”
I have recently learned the importance that Jesus places on baptism. If you are a believer, and have not been baptized, as an act of obedience to our Lord, I encourage you to make that a priority this New Year.