Focus

Experience silence in the midst of your busy day. Take some time to relax into a time to be with God.

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Read

John 1:29-34 (NRSV)

The next day he [John the Baptist] saw Jesus coming toward him and declared, “Here is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! This is he of whom I said, ‘After me comes a man who ranks ahead of me because he was before me.’ I myself did not know him; but I came baptizing with water for this reason, that he might be revealed to Israel.” And John testified, “I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and it remained on him. I myself did not know him, but the one who sent me to baptize with water said to me, ‘He on whom you see the Spirit descend and remain is the one who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.’ And I myself have seen and have testified that this is the Son of God.”

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Reflect

John was a well-known preacher who called people to repent of their sin and be baptized. When Jesus came to him to be baptized, John declared the difference of his baptism of water from that of Jesus who baptized with the Holy Spirit. As it states in our Confession of Faith 5:18 “…In this sacrament the church witnesses to God’s initiative to claim persons in Christ, forgive their sins, grant them grace, shape and order their lives through the work of the Holy Spirit, and set them apart for service.”

From time to time we need to review what baptism is and why we baptize. We baptize infants of Christian parents to affirm that the infant is a part of the Covenant community. Although it is sometimes done, the church should not rebaptize a person. Such action, in effect, would be saying that God did not get it right the first time. It is God who takes us in through the sacrament of baptism. To suggest otherwise would be saying that we have to do works in order to be saved. Our salvation and God’s grace are freely given. They are not earned through our actions.

John’s baptism of Jesus was to reveal to the world that Jesus was the Messiah. John saw the Holy Spirit in the form of a dove over Jesus.

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Pray

O God, thank you for your grace and salvation that is freely given through Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior. Thank you for the gift of the Holy Spirit that you gave for our guidance. Amen.

Go with God.