A Few Thoughts on Baptism

Hey you all! Thanks for stopping by today! There’s a lot I could say about baptism, but there are just a few thoughts on my mind today I wanted to share.

I’m disappointed. Or maybe discouraged. Either way, I think there’s something not right. And I’m trying to figure out how to say it.

Well, Jesus taught us to be baptized after we repent and accept Him as Lord and Savior of our lives, right? He even set the example for us. He went to His relative, John the Baptist, who was baptizing people in the Jordan River, to be baptized in obedience to His Father. And then there was the Ethiopian eunuch. In case you’re unfamiliar with this story, I’ll give you a brief summary: This man was reading Scripture and didn’t understand it, but the Lord sent Philip to him, who then preached Jesus to him. The two were walking along the road and came upon some water, and the Ethiopian said, “Look! Water! What prevents me from being baptized?” (From Acts 8:36) And then Philip baptized the new believer. Simple as that.

The Bible doesn’t tell us what temperature the water was in the Jordan. It doesn’t say what kind of body of water the eunuch was baptized in. John the Baptist didn’t baptize people according to the niceness of the weather (as far as I can tell from what I read in the Bible, anyway). They didn’t plan a date and time for a baptism and invite their families to it (as far as we are told). John the Baptist didn’t advertise what days he would be having baptisms (I’m sure). I don’t believe he told anyone, “Sorry, I can’t baptize you today, but I plan to have a baptism day two Sundays from now that you can come to.” (Not that I’ve ever actually heard anyone say that…)

But I’m surrounded by this today. Churches plan baptism Sundays where you SIGN UP to get baptized. People are picky about the little details of the water- the temperature, the cleanliness of it, etc. People plan a date for their baptism instead of joyfully, excitedly, immediately jumping up and looking for some place to be baptized after being saved! People worry about the little things of this world- having dry clothes to change into and having a towel with them as if they were going swimming!!

When one is baptized, they’re in the water for about one or two minutes (unless they get in and then share their testimony, but that’s up to them). If you can’t bear to be in pond water on a cool day for two minutes -especially to get BAPTIZED-, all I have to say is a flat, unimpressed, “wow.” Sure, cold dirty water may not be pleasant, but baptism is so much bigger than those earthly details! It’s a joyous, celebratory event! One shouldn’t even hardly think of those tiny little details at a time like that! Sure, don’t go swimming in those conditions if you don’t want to, but this isn’t a day at the beach! This is obedience to God! It’s showing that you’ve repented of your sins and have chosen to follow Jesus! It’s not about the water. It’s not supposed to be a big production. Sure, it’s the way we’re publicly showing what decision we’ve made, but there doesn’t have to be a crowd to witness it! And, yes, it’s great if our loved ones can be there to see it happen, but you don’t need to wait for everyone’s schedules to work out in a way they can all be there at once. You don’t need to wait for anything. You shouldn’t wait. Don’t wait for the weather to warm up. Don’t wait for the second annual baptism day at church that only comes around twice a year. Don’t wait to be obedient to God!

Well, those are the thoughts I wanted to share. I suppose I get sad and disappointed sometimes when Christians seem to lose focus on what’s true and actually important. There is so much in churches and modern “Christian culture” that simply isn’t biblical. But I will stop here with my ramble and leave it at that for today. (-: Bye!!