Hey!! It's been a while since I have written a blog; way too long, actually. But after getting baptized a few weeks ago, I realized it was time to give an update. This was an exciting Sunday for me! I got to share with many friends and family, and I will share it with many more of you now. Baptism has much significance for me and others, as I have learned in the weeks after getting baptized, and in the time I spent learning about baptism beforehand. It's an act of obedience that is beneficial for us when we understand the deep meaning behind this imperative tradition.
So why did I decide to get baptized? I have believed in Jesus and been a Christian for as long as I can remember; my parents have taught these things to me. I have had important moments in my life where God spoke to me, or I repented of something, but I can't point to a particular time as a 'salvation moment', and one of those moments did not prompt my baptism. Rather, my decision was one that grew over a number of years.
I was sprinkle-baptized when I was an infant, of which I have no recollection, and had not really thought about baptism in depth until 3-4 years ago. It was then that I witnessed my first baptism by immersion at my grandparents' church in Michigan. This sparked my inquiry about baptism. I began to wonder why certain Christians practiced this differently. I think its important to know why we do things, why we do things the way we do them, and why we think the way we do (alliteration lovers: you're welcome). So over a long span of time, I fleshed out what I believed and thought about baptism.
The basic mode of baptism didn't take too long to figure out, as the word baptism itself means 'to immerse' in something. So baptism by immersion was immediately evident to be the correct mode of baptism. In addition to the mode, occasion of baptism is also important. In Acts, whenever one became a Christian, they were almost immediately baptized. This happens in Acts 2, 8, and 16. It was a personal decision and a public proclamation of faith for the one being baptized, as well as an expression of obedience to Jesus' command for those doing the baptizing. For many, it meant publicly showing your change of mind and heart in becoming a Christian. For others like me, who have grown up in church and do not have a specific time of salvation to point to, baptism helps to learn to proclaim our faith and be unashamed of the gospel. This was huge for me. Sometimes, out in the world, I tend to be quiet about my faith and even ashamed sometimes of being different than others. However, I know that this is wrong and I need to get over this fear, and my baptism helped to drill this truth into me.
The word and idea of baptism has several nuances. Besides the physical act of water baptism- being immersed in water- the Bible uses baptism in reference to Christ, the Spirit of God, and fire. The word baptism used with Christ and the Spirit of God infer why one is baptized when he becomes a Christian, publicly identifying with Christ. When we become a Christian, we are immersed in God's spirit and in the life of Christ. This new life in Christ is referenced by Paul throughout his letters. Our new life in the Spirit and Christ is a unifying theme of Paul's letter in describing how we should live.
Romans 6 explains how baptism also symbolizes Jesus' death and resurrection. As we go under the water, we are mirroring Jesus' death, which in turn is analogous of our death to sin. When Jesus died on the cross, he took away our sins so that we would be free from the punishment of sin (and be free of the baptism by fire that Jesus speaks of in Matthew 3:11). In other words, we are dead to sin; it is as if sin does not exist. Therefore, sin is dead to us, and baptism symbolizes the death of the old man. The second part of baptism, rising out of the water, symbolizes our new life in Christ. We are a new creation in Christ, the old has gone away and the new has come! Baptism should help us to remember the following sweeping theme especially evident in Paul's letters: Christ gives us a new life in the spirit, and delivers us from our old life in the flesh.
Personally, I can not say enough how important this is for my growth. Daily I NEED to die to my old self and make myself alive to God. This is so freaking hard to do!! If I remind myself continually of this through Bible study and prayer, growth happens. If I do not, my actions become increasingly selfish and contrary to God. I hope you can sense my urgency. It's important. Extremely so.
If I am alive to God and dead to sin, reminding myself daily of these truths, I will become closer to my brothers and sisters in Christ. The Bible uses the word baptism to describe our joining into the family of God in 1 Corinthians 12:13. When we become a Christian, we are baptized, or immersed into Christ and his body. Then we can have close friendship with each other in a new Spirit-led life of love.
I will conclude my thoughts about baptism with this: in a sense, we do need to be baptized (spiritually, not physically) to be saved, but looking at it this way is not the right way. We need to repent and believe (these are two sides of the same coin) to be saved. When we repent and believe in Jesus as our Lord and Savior, we are immediately baptized by the Spirit of God into Christ and His family. After we become Christians, hopefully our desire is to follow the Lord's commands and be baptized in water. We do this because of baptism's spiritual meaning: die to sin and be alive in Christ.
After I learned and studied all these things, according to my conscience, I knew I should get baptized. An Ethiopian eunuch says it this way: "What is to prevent me from being baptized?" When I mentioned it to my family, my brother wanted to be baptized as well! So on July 7th, both my brother and I were baptized. We also had some friends and family there, some of which came to our house for lunch afterwards. For all those that came, thank you for sharing that day with me.
Peace out.
