Friday, May 29, 2009

Baptism...

This Sunday my hottie husband and I will be baptized. I cannot begin to fully express to you how excited we are, how important this is to us and how nervous I am (I keep having dreams where I slip under the water and I am wildly flapping my arms and legs, coming up out of the water and releasing a monstrous water belch in front of the entire congregation).

Both my hottie husband and I were baptized when we were infants. Hottie husband was raised Catholic...they believe in baptizing as an infant. The Catholic reasoning (as I understand it) behind infant baptism comes from the belief that all who depart this life without baptism, be it of water, or blood, or desire, are perpetually excluded from the vision of God.

I was baptized in the Presbyterian Church. Being baptized as an infant in the Presbyterian Church my parents were saying that they would supply the act of faith for me until a time when I can profess mature Christian faith on my own.

You may be wondering why my hottie husband and I are going to be baptized this Sunday when I just shared with you that both of us have already been baptized when we were infants! Let me share with you why...

As you know from previous posts, I just recently accepted Jesus Christ into my heart (hottie husband accepted Jesus into his heart a long time ago)! I have asked him to show me the way to a more Christ like life. I have asked his forgiveness for all my sins.

I found this verse in Romans 6 verses 3-4:

“Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? Therefore we have been buried with him by baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life.”


This is the meaning of baptism according to Paul.

What I get from this verse is that our salvation in Christ means that we are dying to the person we don’t want to be, and we are being given the strength to grow spiritually and emotionally through baptism.
When I think about what it means to die with Christ, I question myself about my own growth:
.

• Am I giving up my tendency to get defensive and my need to be right?
• Am I becoming more able to face the things I need to face rather than run?
• Am I needing other people’s approval less than I used to?
• Can I face up to my weaknesses and see where I need to change?


When I think of walking “in newness of life” I ask myself:


• Am I aware of my strengths and more ready to use them to serve as God guides me?
• Am I becoming more aware of God’s love for me and am I allowing his perfect love to drive out my fears?
• Do I have a deep sense of being chosen to serve God’s purposes in the world?
• Is the love of God flowing through me?


Paul said about our freedom to get on with our newness of life, “Be energetic in your life of salvation, reverent and sensitive before God. That energy is God's energy, an energy deep within you, God himself willing and working at what will give him the most pleasure” (Philippians 2:13).


Baptism means that God’s energy is working deep within us. What a beautiful ceremony!! I thank God for giving my hottie husband and I this new life in Jesus Christ!!

1 comment:

  1. Betsy...we have been talking about this in my house all week. We are excited for you guys. Tori says she wants to talk to Pastor Mark on Sunday about getting baptized. I will explain why we have talked about it so much on sunday.

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