Remembering and Thankful

I heard it again this week in an online talk — “Remember your baptism.”

Say what?
Yes — Remember.

Do you?
Consciously remember that you were baptised?

What’s that about, anyway? Why make a big deal about baptism?

Well...
God made a deep, strong, eternal promise of love to me.
Which is called “covenant.”
He made a “covenant” with me that is centred on Jesus.
And that covenant was marked/sealed/confirmed when I was baptised.
God will NEVER go back on that covenant promise.
That is, as a matter of fact, a HUGE big deal.
Worth remembering!

I am baptised — God claims me
I am baptised — my life is not my own
I am baptised — there’s an incredible, eternal future ahead of me
I am baptised — between now and then, my Father In Heaven will care for me
I am baptised — always, always, always, Jesus is praying for me
I am baptised — the Holy Spirit goes with me
I am baptised — I am part of something WAY BIGGER than just me, my house, my job/school/friends

Remember that … give thanks for that … and let that shape your life all week long:
how you speak
how you spend your money
how you choose to have fun
how you work
how you love
how you listen...

I don’t know about you.
I was baptised when I was just a few weeks old. My parents, believers in Jesus, brought me to church and having heard Scripture’s promises of care to believers and their children, presented me for baptism.
There — marked!

And then other baptised believers kicked into action: Attendants in nursery, teachers in Sunday School, leaders at boys’ club, youth group leaders, elders, deacons, pastors … I can’t even count, any more, how many people came alongside my parents over the years to help nurture me and model for me what it means to live under the shelter of God’s promise of grace and care — that is, what it means to live a baptised life as a follower of Jesus.

I wish they could all read this.
So … a SHOUT OUT to them all…
THANK YOU!
THANK YOU!
THANK YOU!

You didn’t quit on me. Or my family. You haven’t. You won’t.
Because, well, you remember baptism. Yours and mine.
You remember the Faithfulness of our Covenant God.
And you choose, deliberately, to follow and reflect that faithfulness in your lives.
And to remind me that it IS a big deal!

Thank you for your faithfulness.

Lord, grant that I may also remember baptism.
Mine. And that of believers you allow me to connect with.
So that I can pass along the nurturing and modeling that was shared with me by others marked in baptism waters, marked with your covenant seal, claimed by you.

Thank you for sending these brothers and sisters into my life.

And, Lord – thank YOU, most of all, for YOUR faithfulness, YOUR love, YOUR wisdom, YOUR truth, YOUR gracious covenant care and presence in my life and theirs!