Baptism: Special Delivery - Monday Morning Devotions - Week 6
Join Pastor Ricky Jacob as he discusses baptism in this 7-week devotion series.
Need to start at the beginning? Read Week 1 here
[Holy Baptism - Part3] How can water do such great things?
Dr. Martin Luther explained how the water of Holy Baptism can do great things with these words:
We, too, say that an outward thing is nothing, if it is by itself; then it is utterly [without profit]. But if it is joined to the very will of God, then it does profit because of the will that has been attached to it. . . . Thus in Baptism there is not only mere water, because there is present here the name, or all the divine power joined through the Word in Baptism, and God Himself is the One who baptizes. Take note of this. But they do not listen, but stubbornly harp on the words: "An outward thing does not [do it]." Beware of their madness, because when an outward thing is grasped through the Word of God, it is a saving thing. If the humanity of Christ were without the Word, it would be a vain thing. But now we are saved through His blood and His body because the Word is joined to it. Thus Baptism bears the Word of God by which the water is sanctified, and we are sanctified in the water. [AE 29:82]
Am I Savable? - Heidi Goehmann
God baptizes. He holds you, me, infants, and adults in His arms and baptizes each believer in the water and with His Spirit. This is a miraculous picture! God is not absent, or else, as Luther writes, water would be "mere water" - nice, but not saving. Instead, God is fully present in His Word and with the water to bring salvation, grace, and life to us. He could stay in His heavens and be disconnected from us, but He does not. He could come to us in ways that would leave us guessing, "Is that God?" but He does not. Rather, He presents to us one very clear way to saving faith, to be part of it in His Church.
It is so easy to believe that simple water and the Bible are not enough, particularly when we look around us at a fallen world and inside of us, seeing our own brokenness. We wonder, "Am I savable?" In these times, we rest in the visible picture given to us in Titus 3: "He poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior" (v. 6). God is active. God pours salvation on us. God baptizes. God saves.
We pray: Lord, You are there at every Baptism, doing the action, using hands of Your people to pour water onto our heads and into our souls. Leads us, tender Father, to remember the picture of You graciously saving us every day. In Jesus we pray. Amen.