GETTING DUNKED

Or do you not know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life.  Romans 6:3–4

I’m sure I’m not the only pastor in our group of believers that has had a disappointing conversation with someone about baptism. What should be a gift, and cause for celebration is often turned into something else entirely, often by those who profess Christ, but have a higher loyalty to comfortable North American cultural/religious practices than they do Scripture. In the midst of a similar conversation, I found myself reading a quote by missionary Isobel Kuhn. After an outpouring of the Spirit resulting in salvation, she says: “It was a real ordeal for those baptized: a plunge into December’s icy mountain water, and then to run the gauntlet of that long line of deacons, shaking hands with each, and for some a third of a mile run to reach a shelter where they might don dry clothing! Who could fail to love the dauntless spirit of these who thus made public confession of their new Master! I thought of this same ceremony at home—the carefully warmed water, the sheltered, decorated tank, a blue calsomined ceiling, also a dressing-room close at hand—and I felt how precious to their Lord these brave mountain children must be.”

Stories like this inspire me, remind me to be faithful, calls all believers back to a faith that spans millennia, cultures and continents. Baptism is a blessing, and those truly regenerated by the Lord can celebrate it together with full joy and dedication.

Joe Ensley