Dear Baptized Ones,

     We have the privilege this Sunday of witnessing Chloe Turner’s baptism as part of our worship in Colossians 3:12-17. She has previously professed faith in Jesus Christ alone by faith alone through God’s grace alone. She is pursuing baptism as a sign and seal of her being set apart in Christ to walk in newness of life to the glory of God. This empowers her to put on His heavenly attributes with the peace of Christ ruling in her heart for which she is thankful. This serves as an excellent opportunity for us to reflect upon our own baptism and seek to improve upon our ability to put on the heavenly attributes of Christ in the power of the Holy Spirit.

     Consider what Ralph P. Martin writes in Colossians: The Church’s Lord and the Christian’s Liberty:

“For (Paul) the essence of “religion” is Christ, and the mainspring of morality is a death-and-resurrection experience (signified in a believing response in baptism) in which the old nature dies to self and sin, and the new nature is received as a gift from God…. It is that new humanity, which is Christ-living-in-His-body, the church, which provides both the sphere in which Christian morality is defined and also the motive-power by which Christians are able to live together in the one family of God.”

     Pray for the Spirit to help you to grow in what you display through your words and deeds as a baptized one. Ask for forgiveness in the places where you have failed to put on the heavenly attributes of Christ. Seek unity with your fellow baptized ones in the church through forgiveness and encouragement through the word of Christ dwelling in and overflowing from you. Praise God for declaring you holy and beloved in Christ as declared in your baptism!

In Christ,
Cameron