Your “Coming Out Party”…..

The purpose of baptism isn’t a requirement to get “saved”, for you already are “saved” if you know you need to do it. The purpose of baptism is to show the world that you have repented of your sins and turned to God to be forgiven. It’s your “coming out party” as a new believer. That’s it. It’s not some magical process that makes you a better Christian. It’s your way of showing society (and yourself) that you’ve been resurrected from being spiritually dead, and made alive in Christ. It’s your way of saying you’ve died to yourself (the flesh) and are now serving Jesus as Lord. It’s proof to yourself that you really do believe God, enough to humble yourself in performing this action. The baptisms done in churches to infants and babies are not the same thing. These baptisms are for the parents, than the children. Yes, it may be a declaration of the parents’ duty (promise) to raise the child under the fear and admonition of the Lord, that will certainly help in the future salvation of the child, but it is not what the Bible calls baptism. How can a baby declare volitionally that he is serving God? He can’t. Baptism is the “coming out party” for believers. It’s a personal, public announcement of one’s allegiance to Jesus. No one can make that decision for you. This is a one-time occurrence, but it’s not a one time action. You live the rest of your life showing how you’ve been transformed by the renewing of your mind every day. Baptism doesn’t save you; it is proof you are saved.

3 Then John went from place to place on both sides of the Jordan River, preaching that people should be baptized to show that they had repented of their sins and turned to God to be forgiven. Luke 3:3