The Transformation Offered by our Lord in Baptism

      The baptism of Jesus recorded in Luke 3:15-22 impressed me how the Lord wants to energize us in this sacrament. Baptism is not magic. One inmate claimed he was baptized by seven different churches before his incarceration! Multiple  times this ritual is administered or in what forms guarantee a person will be rescued from destructive choices or behaviors. Baptism is misused by churches to claim they alone have the doorway to heaven.  Leaders proclaim that if a person was sprinkled, poured upon, or not immersed in their formula of words it is no good.  The age of baptism can be used against a person. If baptized as an infant or child some  teach that it doesn't count.  We must be careful not to be arrogant with the mystery of baptism. Methodists accept the validity of baptism done by other churches knowing that the Lord uses many different means to touch the heart.
     We all should be baptized. This is the Lord's command in Matthew 28:19-20.
This is a way we say "Yes" to the Lord's call to adopt us as dearly loved children.  In Ezekiel 36:25-27 baptism is described as the Lord sprinkling us with pure water to cleanse within and to change our hearts from stone to a "heart of flesh".  As a prison chaplain for 24 years I experienced inmates who had cold, hard hearts with no mercy. They were marked with tattoos of the skull and cross bones with the words, "Ice Man" on their arms.  Yet a few men sought the Lord in baptism to change their hateful hearts and developed a heart of love and forgiveness!
       In prison ministry I have baptized men by immersion and pouring water over the head.
In  Methodist churches I have baptized infants and adults with sprinkling. Some I immersed in cold waters of a Spring filled creek.  The important matter is the dedication of the parents or the adult being baptized. This is a public declaration of the commitment to follow Jesus. It is the beginning of a conversion of the heart by the Spirit. As a sacrament we believe the Holy Spirit touches our hearts in baptism in any way. We do our part by giving our best honest intentions to God to mean business about serving Him.
     The new direction of baptism needs to be acted upon! Paul said in Romans 6:1-4 to ponder this  commitment to stay away from an easy attitude towards sin. "We have been buried with him by baptism unto death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life". (Verse 4). We enter His death for us by turning away from a selfish and prideful lifestyle. We enter into the power of His resurrection by practicing prayer, group worship, generosity, self-control, and humility.  We exchange the "self-life" to experience the "Christ in me life".  We  never attain the full power of His resurrection but are given a special supply of His Spirit to keep us ever growing in transformation into His likeness of moral integrity,courage, creativity and compassion. As a true sacrament the Lord blesses us in baptism when we experience it with a willingness to change and to serve.
     If you are reading this post and want to pursue the Lord in baptism please contact me for discussion.  The Lord wants to bless you in taking a stand for Him.