Dear Baptized Ones,
     

     We have the opportunity to improve upon our baptisms this Sunday in gathered worship as Wes Calton will baptize his and Kelly’s third born son Whitley Benjamin. While baptism will not save Whit, it will serve as a sign of the Lord calling him to respond in repentance from sin and by faith in God’s saving grace through the work of Christ alone. This sacramental means of grace signifies that Christ’s faithfulness in life, death, and resurrection precedes Whit’s own. Pray that the Holy Spirit would use Whit’s baptism throughout his life to draw him to newness of life in union with Christ and restoration to the Father.
     

     This is a great opportunity for those of us who have been baptized to remember how the word of God’s saving grace came to each of us. We should also reflect on and give thanks for how Christ’s perfect faithfulness precedes and supersedes our own. Praise God that our failures before and after salvation in Christ do not have the final say; praise God that the blood of Christ covers and cleanses us declaring us now and forever to be sons and daughters of God! John Calvin captures this beautifully in one of his prayers in his commentary on Hosea:

Grant, Almighty God, that as thou hast not only of late adopted us as thy children, but before we were born, and as thou hast been pleased to sign us, as soon as we came forth from our mother's womb, with the symbol of that holy redemption, which has been obtained for us by the blood of thy only begotten Son, though we have by our ingratitude renounced so great a benefit, - O grant, that being mindful of our defection and unfaithfulness, of which eve are all guilty, and for which thou hast justly rejected us, we may now with true humility and obedience of faith embrace the grace of thy gospel now again offered to us, by which thou reconciles thyself to us; and grant that we may steadfastly persevere in pure faith, so as never to turn aside from the true obedience of faith, but to advance more and more in the knowledge of thy mercy, that having strong and deep roots, and being firmly grounded in the confidence of sure faith, we may never fall away from the true worship of thee, until thou at length receives us in to that eternal kingdom, which has been procured for us by the blood of thy only Son. Amen.

     Pray for the Holy Spirit to convict and comfort us with these truths through Whit’s baptism on Sunday. May we improve upon our perseverance in pure faith as we grow in true obedience of faith through the power of the Holy Spirit. May we advance more and more in our knowledge of our Abba Father’s mercy and the eternal reality of our restoration to Him through the resurrection and death of Christ. May we flourish in our joy and expectation of God’s goodness in worship!

In Christ,
Cameron