Baptism Faith TrainingSýnishorn

Day 8: Living Your Baptism

We think of baptism as a one-time event, but that one-time event is meant to be an ongoing reality. You don’t just get baptized. You live it.

Martin Luther has really insightful things to say about this. He wrote that, “A truly Christian life is nothing else than a daily baptism, once begun and ever to be continued.”

Baptism. Daily.

Luther is not suggesting that we get re-baptized every day. (He wrote adamantly against that idea.) What he’s saying is that the Christian life is one of constantly turning to Jesus and learning what it means to live in our new identity. He equates it to dying and rising. “Baptism,” he writes, “is nothing else than putting to death the old Adam, and after that the resurrection of the new man, both of which must take place in us all our lives.”

Every day.

Even though we’ve been immersed into Christ and have taken on his new identity, the worst parts of our own identity – what Luther calls the old Adam – can still hold on. We might try to drown our sinful side in baptism, but sometimes it proves to be a good swimmer! Despite being baptized and having new life in Christ, we continue to sin every day. And every day, we have the propensity to drift away from God and harden our hearts against him.

So live your baptism daily. Return to it. Embrace it. You’ve been immersed into Christ! Let him define you.

Daily, give yourself over to God. When you sin, tell him where you’ve gone wrong and how you’ve drifted. Tell him when your heart is growing angry or cold. Turn back to him and embrace his forgiveness. His grace is sufficient, and his forgiveness is limitless!

Daily, seek God. Daily, receive his gifts. Daily, trust him. Daily, step out in new acts of obedience and faith. Let Jesus define you, mold you, and use you. Trust your very life to him. Not just after you die but right now. Eternal life starts today.

Alli Patterson, a Bible teacher who’s written on baptism, recommends doing a gut-check on things that tend to make a big difference in the thriving life of a disciple. She asks:

• Are you ready for people in your life to know that you’re a follower of Jesus?
• Are you willing to make time in your life to connect with other believers?
• Are you willing to do something only for the sake of being obedient to God?
• Are you willing to turn away from any sin you’re currently aware of? (Knowing there is help, time, and grace for you as you walk away!)
• Are you willing to try to obey the teachings of Christ even if you don’t like some?
• Are you willing to step into a new identity as fully as you can – realizing you’re a son of God equipped to become like Jesus through the Spirit?

These are aspects of living your baptism daily.

Which begs the question. Is your baptism synonymous with immersing into Christ, or are you just looking for a little water?

Faith is holistic. It involves all of us. God values our entire being. Baptism is a sign of that. It is full immersion into Christ – body, heart, soul, and mind.

Because at the end of the day, God wants you. Not just part of you but every facet of your being. Because all of you matters to him.

Questions

1. Which of the gut-check questions come easily? Which come hard?
2. In what ways can you live your baptismal identity?