Tonight, my friend and brother in the Lord, Stephen Baldwin, baptized a young man on the reality show he is currently filming. As I watched, it occurred to me that for many this was a silly exhibition by a "born again" Christian; but as a matter of fact, it may not have been.
You see baptism is an outward expression to onlookers of an inward reality and transformation. Baptism does not change a person's relationship with or standing before God. It does not wash away your sin, nor is it a religious formality that has no real meaning.
When a person comes before God and acknowledges their need of forgiveness for their independent spirit and actions (sin) and expresses a desire to no longer live apart from Him, they are said to be "born again." This phrase comes from the New Testament story when a learned religious leader of Jesus' day came to him to find out who Jesus really was. In describing what it meant to be a follower of God, Jesus tells the Rabbi that he must not only be born in a natural way but also in a spiritual way - this is being "born again."
When we are baptized we are entering into a symbolic act that represents dying and coming to life again, just as Jesus did. The water is symbolic of death and cleansing. We go into the water as a lost and condemned sinner and come up out of the water as a new person who has been cleansed and brought into the life God originally intended - one of surrender and submission to Him.
No one in this life is perfect or even close to it, but being born again is how we secure a place in heaven based on what God has done for us. That is not something we earn but it is a free gift we simply receive from Jesus who provided the way by dying in our place on the cross of Calvary.
Baptism is how we broadcast our new relationship with God to the world. It is a powerful statement that we make to the world, staking out our covenant with God that has unconditionally changed us forever.
Some may be baptized as a religious formality, but to most this act means that something real and vital has taken place in our spiritual life and before God. I hope this clarifies what many saw on television in the jungles of Costa Rica tonight. If it was a genuine personal expression of faith, then it was a marvelous way to tell the world that something very significant has taken place in the life of the participants.
Check out this Trace Adkins video on YouTube: http://bit.ly/QD6B9
