You have put on Christ.

For as many of you as have been

baptized into Christ have put on Christ. Galatians 3:27

 Dear Cooper:

Only a couple of weeks until your Baptism. I hope you, mom and dad are reading the Bible and praying lots each day. I am praying that you are developing this habit … praying helps us focus on God, His Love for us and our need of Him.

Here is a truth about God. To our mind, He simply makes no sense. The Bible says His ways are far beyond our ability to figure them out. We will spend our entire lives confronted by this truth – we can push back (that is we can try to tame God’s awesome infinite nature and contain it within our ability to understand it), or we can smile and simply be amazed. It is completely reasonable then to say two things – one, we will not fully understand why God commands certain actions and two, we will not fully perceive everything God is doing.

I can truthfully proclaim the spiritual reality of each believers union with Christ in His death and resurrection. I can say water baptism is a 'mark of' or marks that unity. Cooper, I can say death is broken and defeated. I can say that your physical baptism relates to your spiritual baptism. I can say your baptism is public, internal, ceremonial, liturgical, physical, spiritual and wonderful and brings you into association and identification with Jesus; in it you have died to sin and risen to life-eternal in Christ. So while many people ask how, I pray you will simply receive and be thankful … He is risen, He is alive and He extends life to us. God does this and it is awesome.

Through your Baptism you are embraced and entitled to all God’s promises – all that remains is for you to be raised in the knowledge and love of Jesus (mom, dad and God-parents take note here!!) and for you to confess your faith in word and how you live your life. So here we also notice again Baptism is not an act done by a human but a Grace extended by God. The Grace in Baptism is not bound up in your age or my words; the Grace in Baptism reflects God’s nature and His work. The Grace is that you are baptized into Christ and you are now immersed in Him.

t HE

Monday, January 16, 2017