“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.”
2 Corinthians 5:17
Spending this last month near the beach in Thailand has had me thinking a lot about the significance of water in my life. I have always loved being in water but it took on new meaning for me a little over a year ago when I had the opportunity to be baptized by my parents at the Mae Sa waterfall in Thailand.
As someone who used to struggle with embarrassment when talking about my faith it took me a long time to get to a point where I could show my inward reality with an outward sign. I used to think baptism was outdated and unnecessary. I didn’t see why it was important for me to do if I already believed in God. Why would anyone else have to know about my faith, anyway? Isn’t it supposed to be a personal thing between me and God?
In reality, what I wanted was to believe that if I died I would go to heaven but I didn’t want to live my life as a “boring Christian.” So instead, I spent most of college running away from God’s will for my life. I would pray to him when I wanted something; I would go to church and Bible study occasionally. But nothing in how I lived my life would have said that I was a Christian except my mouth. I was a lukewarm Christian at the very best. I chose friends over God. I cared way more about what they thought of me than what He thought of me. I was just trying to have fun but my life began to spiral out of my control. By the end of college, I felt like I was drowning and that the weight of the world was pulling me under.
That is when Jesus came in like a life guard and saved me. As I was beginning to gasp for air and call out for help, Jesus reached out his hand and said, “Oh you of little faith, why did you doubt?”
Over the next year, I left on the World Race and began learning what a Christian life looked like. My weak foundation was shaken and slowly He rebuilt a strong foundation for me. Through the loss of a friend and control of my life, I found what it meant to truly rely on God and follow Christ. My heart was changed and I wanted others to know by the way I lived my life. It wasn’t long before I desired to look more like Jesus.
Jesus marked the beginning of his ministry with baptism. In his baptism, his true identity was realized and his faith was declared to the public. Jesus showed that baptism was a symbol of the new life and journey God has called us on.
One of the things I think is so amazing about Jesus is that he doesn’t ask us to do anything that he hasn’t done first. Because he made that first step in getting baptized, I finally came to a point where I was ready to take that first step too. I was ready to share with the world that my faith was important to me, that I no longer care about the ways of this world, and that my identity rests in Jesus not what others say about me.
As I prayed about it, I felt like the best time to get baptized was during our Parent Vision Trip so my parents could not only be there but participate in my outward sign of my inward reality. They have always encouraged me in my faith and relationship with Jesus so I couldn’t think of anyone else I would have rather shared that experience with.
My baptism was a sign of the shift that had occurred in my life months earlier. It is a declaration that I was baptized into the death of Christ and raised to have a new life in Him. It was a shedding of my old self and recognizing who God had created me to be.
Throughout the last couple of years, I have learned that a journey with Christ is much different than I previously understood. It is not about being perfect; it is about being forgiven. It isn’t about the do’s and don’ts; it is about love. It isn’t a boring walk through life; it is an exciting journey of stepping out in faith and boldness.
During this first month on the Passport trip, I have been reminded about the significance of my baptism. My baptism wasn’t just a choice I made one day, but something I must choose daily to walk in. From here on out, I choose to let the old life I lived pass away so I may live as a new creation in Christ.
