Baptized into Christ’s New Creation

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Scripture: Galatians 3:27-28 (NRSV)

27 As many of you as were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. 28 There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus.

Devotion:

            We who have been baptized in the church hold a special status according to Paul in these verses. The act of baptism ushers you into a new world. A world of freedom from labels and categories that bind you into a certain identity. In the earliest days of the church adults were only baptized. Infant baptism came in later. Either way the baptized person was declared to be with Christ. Your sin debts have all been paid for and you start with a clean slate.

            Ethnic and racial divisions are done away with in baptism. All people are equal in God’s sight with regard to the color of their skin or the language they speak. Baptism undoes the confusion the worlds races fell into after the tower of babel incident. No longer prisoner or slave but free men and women ready to live a life of freedom in Christ. Male and female are no longer in competition with each other. There is harmony between races, classes, and genders.

            We have moved on from the world of hard division between peoples into God’s glorious light in Christ. Baptismal water is not magic but combined with the Holy Spirit’s working it can do miraculous things. More than just washing off physical dirt, baptismal water washes away spiritual dirt as well. It serves as a sign to the world that a new creature has been born, because an old one has died. As many of us as are baptized are free by the blood of Christ on the cross to live a spirit filled life forever.

            God desires all to come, repent of their sins, confess Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, and be baptized into a totally new existence. How is this possible, you ask? It is a mystery exactly how God works that exchange, but it is the truth. The old is gone, the new has come. Come on in the door is open wide, the blood and the water await you. Be made new in Christ today.

Prayer:

            Lord, you have brought us through the flood of baptism. Help us to invite others to come as they are and receive you as their Savior and Lord. No need to clean yourself up beforehand. Just come as you are and receive a new life in Jesus Christ. Amen

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