Are you ready to wash the stains of sin away?
1 Peter 3:21
This water symbolizes baptism that now saves you also—not the removal of dirt from the body but the pledge of a clear conscience toward God. It saves you by the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
It’s Monday and I’m doing laundry. Why? Because I was taught that Monday was laundry day. “Why Grandma? Why is Monday laundry day?” “Because it’s the way we do it.” When I got older Ma Ingalls helped me to understand why:
“Each day had its own proper work. Ma would say: ’Wash on Monday, Iron on Tuesday, Mend on Wednesday, Churn on Thursday, Clean on Friday, Bake on Saturday, Rest on Sunday.’ ”
~ Little House in the Big Woods
So, I try. Life gets in the way and I can’t always get the laundry done on Monday and when I don’t – I feel as though I am turning my back on a time honored tradition. In Laura Ingalls and my grandma’s day, laundry wasn’t hit the start button, but an all (well three) day affair. Yet, it is also is a non-stop process because laundry is dirty before you even are finished with the current load! As you sit there reading this, those clothes you have on will be hitting the laundry eventually! Some laundry is absolutely filthy (think construction, garden, cow yard, wet dog) and some is a little lighter, but in the end – laundry is laundry. And the fact is, you can add all the soap and fabric softener you want, but without water nothing happens…nothing is washed away.
Sin can be a bit like laundry. Some sin is staining and deeply embedded and some is unintentional but ultimately, like the laundry, sin is sin and without the water it remains with us. Wellhouse, a local church, gives people being baptized a shirt that reads, “Left it in the water.” I love that imagery. Just like the dirtiest of laundry, we too leave it behind in the water and not just on the day of our baptism, because sin is going to keep coming back at us like chocolate stains on the shirt you borrowed from your sister.
I didn’t make the choice to get baptized until I was in my 50s! My parents had baptized aka christened me and I didn’t want to somehow belittle what they had done for me. Then I came to understand that being baptized after the age of accountability is a public profession of faith and I am all for that! Jesus wasn’t sprinkled by Mary and Joseph, He got down in the Jordan River and got wet! Jesus, He who was without sin, got baptized! Mark 1:9-11 paints the picture for us, “At that time Jesus came from Nazareth in Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. Just as Jesus was coming up out of the water, he saw heaven being torn open and the Spirit descending on him like a dove. And a voice came from heaven: ‘You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.’”
Even as life changing as being baptized can be, it can’t keep us from sinning, because we will and we do. It is the grace of Jesus that erases those sins time and time again better than the best laundry stain remover. And it’s ok! Just like we don’t wash our favorite t-shirt once and expect it to stay clean forever, we put it back in the wash water. 1 Peter 3:21 assures us, “and this water symbolizes baptism that now saves you also—not the removal of dirt from the body but the pledge of a clear conscience toward God. It saves you by the resurrection of Jesus Christ.”
Still, baptism doesn’t save anymore than not being baptized will prevent you from being in Heaven. Ephesians 2:8-9 clearly tell us, “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast.” Yes, baptism is an important expression of your faith, a pledge-like vow similar to a wedding vow, but the first step to life everlasting is professing your belief in the Lord Jesus Christ and asking him in your heart. You can do that! RIght here and now! Say:
Dear Lord Jesus, I know that I am a sinner, and I ask for Your forgiveness. I believe You died for my sins and rose from the dead. I turn from my sins and invite You to come into my heart and life. I want to trust and follow You as my Lord and Savior.
If you prayed that prayer for the first time, please let me know so I can celebrate with you and come alongside you for the journey. And if you renewed your faith with that prayer and are ready to get wet, reach out to me- I know people!
