Observing a New Birth
I would say that the second time was a little easier on Sara at least physically (probably emotionally also). It was quite a nice evening for my wife and me as our oldest daughter was baptized this past Sunday evening.
When it comes to young people and baptism (at least in our experience) it has always been filled with concerns:
Who is making the decision to be baptized (the person or their parents)?
Is this a decision based on some kind of external peer pressure?
Is it properly understood (which leads to the better question–how much is needed for ‘proper’ understanding)?
It really comes to this–is it the person’s faith that has led her to make this decision or someone else’s?
Anyway–it was quite the night of emotions as we saw her make the decision to take this new step in her spiritual walk.
What is baptism and what is it for?
Of the many things that could be said about it–
baptism is always pictured in some form or another in the New Testament as the means by which we enter into the family of God. It is in this sense–a new birth. Which leads to another picture–it is a picture of life–new life–recreated life. We are told as Jesus died on the cross and rose to new life–we too rise to new life because we are baptized into his death. Which leads to another picture–being cleansed–Jesus’ blood washes sins away and in our baptisms we encounter that blood that washes us clean and gives us that new life which secures us a place among God’s family.
There are many other things that the Bible talks about with baptism–the Spirit given, forgiveness of sins, salvation etc. But, it is quite a sight to not only witness someone’s birth into this world, but to witness her birth into God’s promised new world!
(For some scriptures that speak of baptism–look at Acts 22:16, Romans 6:3-5, Colossians 2:11-14, 1 Peter 3:18-21, Galatians 3:26-29)
God Bless and Have a Good Day