A Baptism Refresher.
The upcoming baptisms on Sunday have been a catalyst for a lot of conversations in our house about baptism, and today’s bible reading in Matthew 3 only made our pancake breakfast refocus on the topic. Baptism can be a complicated thing, especially for young children. So today I thought I would share a simple breakdown I learned to explain baptism to kids, but also serves as a good reminder for us. This explanation actually focuses on John 3:16 – “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”
The breakdown shows us two things God has done and two things we need to do in response:
- God loved: God loves us so much and wants us to be part of his family.
- God gave: God gave his son Jesus to die on the cross and take care of our sin problem.
- We believe: All we have to do is believe and trust in what Jesus did for us on the cross.
- We receive: We can receive God’s gift of being a part of his family forever.
What baptism shows is that we have done those two things – we have believed that God loves us and has given everything for us and we have received God’s gift of life.
It’s a simple way of explaining both the Gospel and baptism to young hearts.
It also serves as a beautiful reminder to each of us: we are a part of God’s family because he loves us with an unshakable love that we can trust because of what he has done on our behalf. Not only that, we have a calling to go out and show that love to others; to prepare the way as John the Baptist did, for people to encounter Jesus.
We are baptized in the Holy Spirit (Matthew 3:11b) so let us boldly go out and live lives that demonstrate God’s love, let us lay our lives down to echo Christ’s own humility, let us make space in our lives to echo God’s kingdom family, and let us be people of joy because of the wonderful gift we have received.
Grace and peace,
Rebecca DeLucia
Next Generation Pastor