Immersed in the fullness of God’s love!

Reflecting on Matthew 28:16-20 (again)

“Baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit” (Matthew 28:19)
As a Jesus follower I have been baptized many times.
I was baptized as a baby, but also as a teenager, also as an adult.
Sometimes water was used, but always God’s triune love was involved.
In fact, I am still being baptized on an on-going basis.
I live each day immersed in the fullness of God’s love.
The Spirit of God and Jesus continues to flow in and our and over me!

As you can tell, I am using baptize in a different sense.
We usually think of the ritual, the ‘sacrament’, the churchy symbol.
I used to struggle with what baptism meant.
Actually, I knew what the word meant, it meant ‘to immerse’.
This led many to defend total immersion as the proper form.
I used to engage these arguments, now I think they are garbage.
As Paul says, these distinctions are garbage when we know Jesus (Philippians 3:4-14).

Jesus tells His disciples to immerse people in the triune Name of God.
The Name of God, the Name given to Jesus, the Name powered by God’s Spirit.
According to Exodus 33-34, this Name represents God’s goodness and glory.
And that Name is this:

"The Lord proclaimed his name, the Lord. And he passed in front of Moses, proclaiming, “The Lord, the Lord, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin." (Exodus 34:5-7)

The fullness of God’s Name, revealed in Jesus, shared by the Spirit with us.
Immersed in the fullness of compassion, grace, patience (slow to anger).
Immersed in God’s abounding love, faithfulness, continuous love.
Immersed in God’s radical and amazing forgiveness.
This is what we are immersed in, and are to immerse others in.
Water is a symbol, but it is not the fullness itself.

Paul prays a trinitarian baptism prayer in Ephesians 3.

"I kneel before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name. I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God." (Ephesians 3:14-19)

This is my prayer too, that people would be immersed and filled with this love.
I really don’t care if water is used, or how much.
I want people to be rooted and established in the love of Jesus!
I want people to have power to grasp how full that love is.
I want people to be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.

I am baptized in the Spirit of Jesus and the Father.
I have the power, but I still do not fully grasp the fullness of that love.
And so I seek to live each day immersed in the experience of this love.
I pray that the eyes of my heart would be opened more and more.
I pay attention to the abundance of grace and goodness flowing around me.
I focus on Jesus, in whose presence the Spirit flows from God to me.
I was, I am, and I will continue to be baptized into this fullness.

And I pray that you would also be baptized into this fullness.
That Christ would dwell in your heart by faith.
That you would be rooted and established in God’s love.
That you would have power to grasp how extensive that love is.
And that you would be filled, immersed, in the fullness of God’s love.
No water needed, but by all means, immerse yourself in water if it helps.
Or any other symbol of fullness: sunshine, rain, wind, community support.
Be immersed, and immerse others in the fullness of God’s love!

PRAYER 
Lord Jesus, thank You for immersing me in the fullness of God's love. Thank You for Your Spirit Who continues to flow in and through me like a stream of living water.

Forgive me (and us) for getting hung on May Your kind of love so fill me so that others get splashed when they are near me, and that they too may be immersed in the fullness of God's love!