Have
you been baptized? When? If not, why?
For me, I was originally baptized as an infant (just a tiny baby!) and I was certainly not aware of what was taking place. This is the tradition of the Catholic church. Their belief is that this “sacrament” cleanses the original sin of Adam, so that if you were to die, you’d be forgiven and ready for eternal life with God.
I believe baptism is very important. However, it wasn’t until much later in my life that I would come to understand why I should be the one to make this decision to be baptized, and why no one else could really make it for me!
“John did baptize in the wilderness, and preach the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins.” (Mark 1:4 — KJV)
Initially, after accepting Jesus Christ into my heart and following Him, I didn’t think I needed to be baptized again! Yet, we are given choices. If we have been given a sound mind, we need to choose to follow God’s way.
"Anyone
who believes and is baptized will be saved. But anyone who refuses to believe
will be condemned." (Mark 16:16 — NLT)
How is that possible if you’re a baby? Someone else decides for you. I found that this did not "line up" with the Word of God (the Bible).
"Peter replied, 'Each of you must repent of your sins and turn to God, and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. Then you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.' " (Acts 2:38 — NLT)
You cannot repent of your own sins when you are merely a baby. You must be old enough to have a sound mind to make this decision for yourself. You cannot turn to God for salvation, which is also required unless you can understand and that can't be so when you are baby either. You must be old enough to understand.
John the Baptist was sent to prepare the way of the Lord, Jesus Christ. "He went from place to place on both sides of the Jordan River, preaching that people should be baptized to show that they had turned to God to receive forgiveness for their sins" [bold my emphasis]. (Luke 3:3 NLT,
God showed me another bit of wisdom through the symbolism in my dream (see entry entitled: “I Surrender All”), which was the fact that water can drown out or destroy fire. The symbolism of water can be seen as washing away our past sin. The way to wash away sin is to repent (ask God for forgiveness, receive it, and change your ways), and to be baptized in water.
“And this water symbolizes baptism that now saves you also — not the removal of dirt from the body but the pledge of a good conscience toward God" [bold my emphasis]. "It saves you by the resurrection of Jesus Christ.” (1 Peter — NIV)
This scripture indicates that we must have “a good conscience toward God” and that water symbolizes baptism, which also saves, as it cleanses from sin.
The Bible also tells us that: “In Him you were also circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the sins of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, buried with Him in baptism, in which you also were raised with [Him] through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead. And you, being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He has made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses.” (Colossians 2:11-13 — NKJV)
“Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.” (Acts 2:38-41 — KJV)
The Bible tells us: “Now as they went down the road, they came to some water. And the eunuch said, "See, [here is] water. What hinders me from being baptized?" When Philip preached the gospel to the eunuch, that man's heart was ravished by the Word. Immediately, he begged to be baptized. Philip said to him, ‘...If thou believe with all thy heart, thou may...’ ” (Acts 8:36-37 — NKJV)
Wow! You see, when God places the call on your life, you will follow. You will be baptized!
The act of being baptized cleanses our lives of ALL prior sin. Baptism provides us with a way to show others our commitment of dedicating ourselves to following God and becoming Christlike, leaving our old sinful ways and habits behind.
God helps us to change. We cannot do it on our own. We do, however, have to make the choice to allow Him to change us. We have to be willing.
Some teach that baptism is not required. They say that the man on the cross next to Jesus was told he’d be in paradise with Jesus that very same day, and he was never baptized. Well, I say there was an exception, but that was before Jesus had been resurrected. Jesus' own words after His resurrection were recorded in the Bible, and He tells us that we must be baptized. According to the Bible, baptism is required to be saved.
“He
who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe
will be condemned.” (Mark 16:16
— NJKV)
My daughter and I both were baptized (again) as Christians, no longer unaware of what we were doing, as it was when we were baptized as babies! This time we had a clear conscience to make our own decision to be baptized, as the eunuch in the story mentioned earlier. If you haven’t been baptized yet, or if you were baptized as an infant without making the decision yourself, please consider the great reward of this action to follow God.
Until we virtually meet again, may God call you to Himself.
God’s Word for Today: “Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. (Romans 6:4 — NKJV)
*All words in bold are my own added emphasis.
Copyright © 2012 by Patricia Shehan
