A New Beginning
by Abiding Love
Romans 6: 3 — Don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.
The change of the calendar to 2019 moves many people to feel like making a fresh start. Time to leave old misery or old habits behind. Time to look forward with hope and make good choices.
What if you didn’t have to wait until the turning of a year to do that?
You hear what God writes about our baptisms up above. We died and rose with Christ in our baptism. We were raised with Jesus in baptism to a new life where the guilt and power of sin were left behind. We can leave old misery and old sinful habits behind and look forward with hope seeking to live as God’s child.
The problem is we forget our baptisms. Of course, if someone were to ask if you have been baptized, you would quickly remark, “Yes.” But we forget our baptisms when we no longer identify who we are based on our baptism.
Who are you? “I am a baptized, redeemed child of God.”
If that were who you saw when you looked in the mirror each day, would the preciousness of what God has done in your baptism encourage you to seek his glory today? And if that were what you whispered to yourself and to your children as you went to be tonight, would it let you shed off the guilt of today’s sins and the anxiety of life to rest peacefully?
This Sunday we witness Jesus’ baptism in our worship. We will see similarities between Jesus’ baptism and ours. We will see Jesus taking on the task of being our Savior in his baptism so that we can know that in our baptisms we have become the ones saved by God’s grace.
Peace in Jesus,
Pastor John Gensmer
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