PLEASE READ THIS FIRST: Acts 10:44-48
What do you sense the Lord saying to you in this passage?
“Surely no one can stand in the way of their being baptized with water.” (Acts 10:47)
I have a very simple view on the symbol of baptism.
Grace is not bound to the symbol, as we see here in this story.
There’s nothing supernatural about the water, it is not ‘holy water’.
It is like a wedding ring, it symbolizes and seals vows, but doesn’t make marriage.
You can get married without wedding rings; you can be ‘graced’ without baptism.
I find Christians too worked up about the particulars of the symbol.
How and when to baptize, who to baptize, how much water, who may baptize…
My concern is not when or how a person was baptized, but if they experienced Jesus.
Is the Spirit of Jesus at work in them, is God’s grace at work in them?
Someone baptized as an infant is not somehow lesser graced, or disobedient.
If helpful, use the symbol of baptism (even repeat it) to encourage in faith.
If a person is not baptized, don’t sweat it, God is not limited by our symbols.
As a Jesus follower, my job is to lead people to Jesus, not to my views on baptism.
Look for the evidence of Jesus at work, and you will see the reality of baptism at work.
PRAYER
Lord, thank you that your work is not bound by our limitations. Help us to focus on you and your Spirit, and not on our religious traditions or practices.
Receiving the gift of the HS puts all doubts away: “They have received the Holy Spirit just as we have.” It is the gift of the HS that helps us to grow and become more like Jesus each day – to be faithful followers even when it leads us to situations and places we find hard to accept. Just thinking what it must of been like for the Hebrew dominated early church – and so for us too – to leave all vestiges of racism and superiority behind – to accept others and help them to be and feel accepted. Lord, we need your help and prodding! I know I do!
God is a God for all people. It is He Who saves and not our traditions. Jesus saves.
We have heard the joyful sound:
Jesus saves! Jesus saves!
Spread the tidings all around:
Jesus saves! Jesus saves!
Bear the news to every land,
Climb the steeps and cross the waves;
Onward!—’tis our Lord’s command;
Jesus saves! Jesus saves!