Some of us were baptised as babies, some of whom have gone on to be confirmed, and yet others are baptised as adults, and while I am no stranger to controversy this column is not the place for the debate about when people are best baptised.
Whenever baptism happened the question for all the baptised, whether we are regular worshippers or not, is… how do we live as a baptised person?
Through baptism, we are changed, we are recognised as Christ’s people, not by Jesus since Jesus’ death and resurrection, the event that we celebrate at Easter, is once for all, but we are recognised as Christ’s by those around us.
That doesn’t mean that we go up to people and introduce ourselves by saying “Hi, I am Tim, and I am baptised,” but we are recognised by the things that we do and the way we speak. We are recognised by our words, by our actions and, as Jesus says, we are recognised by our love.
The same love that Jesus has for us by taking sin away and destroying it. We are recognised in the way that we forgive others, by forgetting sin and not dwelling on the wrong.
That is what Jesus does on the cross and that is what it is like to live as a baptised person.
We are changed into the likeness of Christ, the same Christ who by grace forgives and does not count the sin.
What would things be like if baptised people lived like that, living by grace, living by trust, and by living by love.
There would be an end to disputes, an end to hatred, and an end to war. That is how we live as people who are eternally joined to Christ.
It is thought that baptism is some kind of rite of passage, a way to have God know who we are.
God already knows us, baptism changes us so that we can live like his Son Jesus, by grace, by love, and by forgiveness. Something to think about.
∼ Contributed by Fr Tim Fogo from St Paul’s Anglican Church, on behalf of the Combined Churches of Deniliquin.
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