Join the Journey 5 – Baptism

My son Matt’s baptism took place on Sunday 9th January and it was a joyful occasion. The church was full and this lifted the singing. It was great having friends from our days in Lady Bay, Nottingham and Stockwood, Bristol together with some from the Wincanton Community Church joining us for the service and being involved in the laying on of hands to pray for Matt’s ongoing spiritual growth.

However, not being in the water for Matt’s baptism raised issues for me about timing. We had planned the baptism for 19th December, but postponed because of the ice. The postponement of the baptism and of the carol service came as blows to me personally, because both would have been highlights in the Christmas period. These decisions also prompted questions about what was God doing.

It is amazing how easy it can be to question God when things do not go as planned – or at least as we personally have planned. This was a particular problem because I had felt God had suggested 19th December to me. In general such situations often send us turning in on ourselves, even to the extent of ignoring positives for the change suggested by others. This, of course, leads to focusing on the issue, rather than on God, in whom the solution, or at least peace for the situation is to be found.

On reflection it dos not matter whether I was right to change the date, or not, but it is important to give God the glory for the fact that Matt has made public witness to his faith in Jesus Christ and been baptised. I should be thankful that I was able to take part in the service and see my son being baptised. The time spent worrying about whether date should have been changed, or not, and whether I should be in the water, or not were really inconsequential distractions. Unfortunately I, and I suspect many of you who read this, spend too long worrying about things. As a Christian I should be able to leave such concerns to God and leave them with him,trusting in his perfect timing to work things out. Through my illness, I am learning to live one day at a time and just do what I can…the problem is too often my days involve worry about whatI can’t, or don’t do rather than just putting the lesson God is teaching me into practice. I am sure that life would be a lot easier if I (and you) could put this lesson into practice.

Wincanton Baptist Church’s verse for the year points in the same direction - ‘Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God’ (Hebrews 12:2). Everything begins and is brought to perfect completion in Jesus – even the date of Matt’s baptism. His call is to keep our focus on him, not the distractions of life. That’s what he did, even to his sacrificial death on the cross – the cross was the altar on which he sacrificed himself so that all who follow him might be released from all that has caused them to turn away from God’s way to follow their own (sin). He did it for the joy of seeing his followers in an eternal relationship with God – Father, Son and Holy Spirit – through his defeat of death. That same joy is available to all who turn to and believe in Jesus and should encourage us to keep our focus on him, whilst leaving the problems of life with him.