Obedience

My wife recently shared the following story.

While I was standing in the crowd watching the show, I noticed that one of Katie's shoes was untied. I quietly leaned over to Cayla and asked her to tie it. Larah took note of what Cayla was doing for Katie and thought it would be clever to untie her shoes. (She wasn't being cute...she was being ornery.) She proceeded to untie her shoes and so I had Cayla tie them. After Cayla was done, I got down on Larah's level, made eye contact, and told her not to untie her shoes again. She did not...and she did not with a good attitude and a happy "Yes, ma'am."

After the program, a woman walked up to me that had witnessed the verbal exchange between me and my 2-year old daughter. This kind and helpful lady (I'm being a bit sarcastic here) informed me that if I didn't want Larah to untie her shoes I should double-knot them. Yes, I did realize that double-knotting Larah shoes would help them stay tied. I also realized that if I double-knotted Larah's shoes, Larah would have missed out on an opportunity to obey her mother.

I love the way Rebecca thinks and writes.

I think sometimes we want God to double-knot our lives. I think God wants the conversation. Maybe God is less interested in fixing our circumstances and more interested in transforming our hearts. Maybe the next time life comes untied, instead of questioning why God would allow it, I should simply look up for a smiling face and kind instructions. Maybe happy obedience is the whole point.

Baptism

Believer’s Baptism is the physical act of our relational covenant with God. It confirms to our own hearts and to those who witness it our total dedication of life to God.

Believer’s Baptism is not about religious ceremony. It is a time to surrender who you were in the past, to secure who you will be in the future, and to settle into the love and work of God in and through your life today.

Believer’s Baptism is not about the cleansing of the body. It’s not even ultimately about the cleansing of the soul (for Christ was without sin). It is about living within God’s eternal pleasure found in the wonders of His covenant and passing the joy of that relational fellowship to the next generation.

Believer’s Baptism is a sonata underscored with the continuing melody of history. It is a composite masterpiece rich in the overtures of eternity. But at its heart, it is simply the music of today. It is the daily reality of dying to ourselves each moment only to find a resurrection in Christ awaiting us. A resurrection into a newness of life that secures our hearts in a lush cool garden speaking to God face to face as a friend speaks to a friend. It is life!

Believer’s Baptism is essentially obedience to God as illustrated in Christ and revealed by the Holy Spirit. But it is an obedience of life and not just words. It is the seeds of our soul rooted in God, evidenced by fruit revealed in the daily grind. Baptism is the beginning of a life devoted to God but it is first the culmination of those devotions. We cannot proceed blindly. We purpose to be in God.

Salvation is a fluid reality. It is a once and forever concept. We were saved, we will be saved, and we are being saved. In this big-picture view of eternal salvation, the physical act of baptism plays a crucial role. It is a place of surrender. The surrender of the body in obedience to and emulation of Christ. The surrender of the will in trusting Christ for new birth and new life. It marks a certain and tangible time in the story of our life where our minds rest in the finality of death to self and in the eternity of resurrection with Christ. It catapults our hearts into the everlasting promise of a heavenly future with God. It leads our wills daily in the perpetual reality of moment-to-moment rejuvenation through the ministry of the Holy Spirit. Baptism is a submersion into the historical foundation, the future hope, and the daily walk in covenant with God.

We may never understand all the mysterious intricacies of God’s gift and command of baptism. Still, my prayer is that we may embrace the beauty and majesty afforded us in His revelation. As we – in trust, obedience, and surrender – follow Christ down into the water, we open our lives to the daily baptismal work of the Holy Spirit. As we – in humility, confidence, and purpose – follow Christ up out of the water, we join Him as ambassadors of reconciliation. “Go therefore and make disciples…baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit…”

Genesis 17; Colossians 2; Exodus 30; John 13; 1st Corinthians 6; Titus 3; Hebrews 10; Luke 3; Mathew 3 & 28; Acts 2 & 22; Romans 6; 1st Peter 1; Ephesians 2; Hebrews 9; 1st Corinthians 1