On this day in 2011 I was baptized again.
I say again, because like many people, I was baptized by my parents when I was little. I'm really thankful that my parents took that step to make the public statement that they were going to raise me as a Christian.
I also felt it absolutely essential that, as a thinking adult, I chose Jesus for myself.
I literally got to a point in my journey to know Jesus where I felt like I needed to get baptized as soon as I possibly could. I literally had come to see my life as a filthy rag, stained with the effects of my rebellion against God. And I needed to be washed clean, which I knew I could not do on my own but only through Jesus the Christ.
Then, one day while attending church, the pastor got up to make an announcement, he said, "some of you have reached a point where you need to get baptized, and we're going to do that on July 3rd." And he looked right at me.
That was it, I was getting baptized. And in so doing, here's what I wanted to say:
- My faith is in Jesus as my personal Savior.
- However crazy it is, I believe that Jesus died, was buried, and rose from the dead.
- I am sincerely and totally repentant of my old sinful life—this is my "burial" of that sinful life.
- And baptism pictures my rising up to a new life of spiritual obedience to God.
It is an outward acknowledgment of the realization that the old self must die in order that the new self might rise again to live—this time really live—by God’s laws and commandments as made possible through His Holy Spirit.
And, as I hope this blog gives some credence to, it is indeed a new life surrendered to the will and authority of God, albeit imperfectly most of the time. I could never have imagined then what a different life it is when you walk with Jesus.
I'm so glad I did this, it's been so important in my "walk with Jesus" and if you have not done so, I would strongly encourage you to consider making such a statement yourself.