Chivalry, Part 11: Commemorating His Transcendent Cause
As our boys grow up, there is one time in their lives that, perhaps, may mean more to them than any other....that time is when they come to believe in Christ and not only accept Him into their hearts, but decide to follow Him and be baptized. As a parent, baptism is not something that I want my son to take lightly. It's something that I feel he should really be sure he knows what he's doing and why he's doing it. Baptism signifies a life change, a heart change, a turning over of a new leaf and a fresh start, living a new life in Christ. Sometimes it almost feels like we push baptism as something that absolutely MUST be done right here and now as soon as someone receives Christ into their hearts; but I don't feel that baptism is something to be taken quite so lightly. Baptism signifies a true change of heart and must be understood.
Jacob recently accepted Christ into his heart, but he hasn't been baptized yet. It's not that we don't want him to, but we just want to make sure that he understands and that he understood what he was doing when he asked Jesus into his heart. With young children, sometimes it can be hard to tell if they really understand what they are doing, yet maybe that's the adult in us....after all, just to have that child-like faith is really what we need.
This all got me thinking that maybe it's not wrong for us to want Jacob to wait a little while longer. Baptism for him could be that time in his life when he truly decides and sets out to honor and serve God with his life. I can't think of a moment that would make me more proud as his mama.:)
Stay tuned next week....any thoughts?
2 comments:
Good for you to recognize the power that is inherent in Baptism. I grew up in a church that practiced infant dedications and waited for more awareness before kids were baptized.
Now, however, we attend a church that is more traditional and practices infant baptism -- I struggled with that for a while, not sure if it was the right thing to do.
Since I don't believe that baptism is how you get saved, I wasn't sure how it was right for a baby to be baptized.
here are a few things I thought about:
There is POWER that God has put into baptism. I believe there is a miraculous transfer that occurs when parents bring their child before the Lord to say "we promise to raise him for your Glory" and invite the Holy Spirit to inhabit that promise.
when the Roman soldier came to Christ, Him and HIS WHOLE HOUSE were baptized.
Finally, one more analogy to think about. As a nursing mother, my son was able to benefit from my immune system. Through my breast milk, he was protected from a lot of dangerous infections and assaults while his own system was getting up and running. Perhaps there is a similarity to baptism from a spiritual perspective?
Most importantly, I think it's an awesome thing that your child has come to accept Christ. I'm praying for that day with my little guy!
I linked here from Shonda's site.
I agree with you that baptism is something to wait for. I was christened as a child. But, when I got older, I was baptized by my own choice at age 11.
Making baptism something special for the child is something he/she will look back on for the rest of their lives as being significant, even life-changing. Like a marriage. In fact, there is a book entitled "Baptism: The Believer's Wedding Ceremony." It views baptism as a covenant commitment to God, much like marriage.
I have some articles on this on my Bible Fountain blog if you are interested in reading them. Family Fountain is my main blog.
Good post. wb
Post a Comment