Jacob's Baptism

By -
Sunday was a special day. Our younger son Jacob committed himself to follow Jesus on Sunday. I had the great honor of baptizing him here in our baptistery in front the whole congregation Sunday morning. You can read Julie's perspective on her blogpost.

Jacob turned 11 on June 9. He has been talking about being baptized for a couple years now, as did his brother before him. Tender, young hearts are sometimes convicted by those Sunday school classes that say something like: "You won't go to heaven unless you have been baptized to wash away your sins." And for kids who are just learning feelings of guilt and shame, that can really hit home with them.

We discouraged both our boys from responding out of feelings of guilt or fear. I believe those are valid feelings and can be quite helpful for an adult whose life is truly headed down the wrong track. But they are not the best motivating factors for a child growing up in a Christian home. Responding solely out of fear sets the bar too low. There needs to be a sense of committing your life to Jesus. There needs to be a realization that Jesus calls us to follow him, and that this commitment is lifelong.

At what age can a person best make such a commitment? That's a tricky question. At what point does anyone fully understand what he/she is doing? I know that we encouraged our kids with the thought that they needn't fear "going to hell" at their age. They are not pagans. But as children move up toward the teen years, I think it is appropriate for their parents to engage their own kids in conversation about making a commitment to Jesus. As parents, you don't need to wait for them to bring it up!

Why? Because we don't want them to have to go through the barren desert of paganism before committing their lives to Jesus. Growing up in a family of faith is a HUGE advantage. Why on earth would we want our kids to "live a little" before making a commitment to Jesus? Too many kids go down "the dark path of the world" and never return! So the fact that our children grow up with faith is something to build upon. Sure, you shouldn't force your child if he/she refuses to make a commitment to Jesus. But I think most kids would if given the chance and if it's explained as the serious commitment that it is.

Having said all that, we can only nurture and teach our children for a season. Soon, they will have to face many battles. I'm just grateful for Jacob's heart, for his willingness to put on Jesus in baptism, and for the Holy Spirit that marks him with the hope of our eternal Father.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Love It or List It: We Sold Our Church Building

By -
Image
On October 8, 2023, we held our last worship service in our home of 59 years. We're moving on to a temporary location while we wait for God to reveal where our more permanent home will be. It's been a journey for which there is no solid road map, but we feel blessed by what's happening. We formed a giant circle for the final song at our longtime, northeast Fresno home. In late January, our elders announced a shock decision. We would be selling our church building and moving on. Among the elders, it was an uncontentious and unambiguous decision. They 100% believed it was in the church's best interest to put our property on the market and find a new home. Many congregations have hard choices to make about aging properties that are oversized for today's churches. Selling seemed the most desirable option to our board in our circumstances. I wrote about that decision back in January. You can read about it here . I had an inside seat to their decision-making process. As a
Read more

Galatians 4:1-7 & The Confusing Apostle Paul

By -
Image
Does Galatians 4:1-7 confuse anyone as much as it does me? After studying this for some time, I am prone to agree with the words of 2 Peter 3:16. "There are some things in [Paul's letters] hard to understand, which the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction, as they do the other scriptures." I hope I'm not one of the ignorant and unstable people. But I'm in the camp of folks who can say that Paul's writings are occasionally hard to understand. Let me clarify what I'm having a hard time clarifying. I don't really think it's difficult to understand Paul's point in Gal 4:1-7. The broader context makes it clear. Paul says that the Law of Moses is inferior to the promise previously made to Abraham. Gentile Christians, he writes, are descendants of Abraham because they share the same faith in God (3:6-7) that Abraham had (Gen 15:6). They therefore don't need to obey Jewish rules and customs. That's his point. from Anthony
Read more

Still Freezing in Abilene

By -
Image
So I've been in a class all week titled "Missional Ecclesiology." It's taken me most of the week just to figure out what the title even means, but it's been a thoroughly invigorating week. Basically, the class is about how church can become a people who are more fully dedicated to the Kingdom of God. Of course this brings up all kinds of questions. If we are going to reshape our churches to more accurately resemble a pursuit of God designs for creation and humanity, what exactly is his aim? Is he merely interested in us going to heaven? Is that what salvation means? And how do we live our communal life in a way that nurtures this vision of salvation? These are deep questions and not so easily dismissed. For example, when I grew up in church, the primary concern was to be saved from sin and not go to hell. So how did we answer this concern? By baptizing people in the right way for the right reason so that they could have assurance of going to heaven. But as we look
Read more