SCRIPTURE: Acts 2:37-41
“Repent and be baptized…” (Acts 2:38)
This is Peter’s answer to the question “what shall we do?”
To repent is to turn back to God, to come clean before God.
To be baptized is to passively receiving God’s gracious forgiveness and mercy.
We have turned this into a formula, an official ceremony into salvation.
I see them as repeatable experiences, with or without water.
“Have mercy on me, O God, according to your unfailing love; according to your great compassion blot out my transgressions. Wash away all my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin.” (Psalm 51:1-2)
I have no difficulty with someone repenting again, nor with someone being baptized again.
Even if they do it 77 times (Matthew 18:22); if the sincerity is there, the forgiveness will follow.
There are huge debates in the church about the hows and whens of baptism.
As far as I’m concerned, with God ‘it all comes out in the wash!’
“A broken and contrite heart you, God, will not despise.” (Psalm 51:17)
What do you sense the Lord saying to you?
PRAYER
Lord, I still need to repent, and I still need to be washed by Your Spirit. Thank You Jesus for showing me that I can always find mercy at Your feet.