- Details
- Written by: Don Goulding
And now what are you waiting for? Get up, be baptized, and have your sins washed away, calling on his name. (Acts 22:16)
A boy beat a drum as he led our colorful throng out of his village for baptisms in Andhra Pradesh, India. Others sang, shook tambourines, and laughed as the Indian pastor and I struggled in the lake against the sucking mud. One by one, beautiful Indians waded out and were buried in the water, only to be raised in new life.
A woman waiting at the end of the line howled. Her demon lamented its imminent eviction. When her turn came, the woman forced herself and the evil spirit into the water and, after some flailing about, submitted to baptism. She left the water free of her torment.
This was not an isolated incident. I have witnessed deliverance connected with baptism in Africa, India, and Fiji. I don’t know all that is transacted in the heavenly realms at baptism, but I do know the demons take the ceremony more seriously than many of us.
Baptism is the most beautiful sacrament given to God’s children. Immersion represents the burial of the old self and then resurrection into life in Christ. This is brilliant, life-altering symbolism. Except for pride, why would any believer opt for private elopement when they can be publicly wed to Christ through baptism? I would do it repeatedly if it weren’t for the fact that union with Jesus is complete upon the first baptism of an informed follower.
Prayer: Precious Jesus, I celebrate the day I sealed my journey with you through baptism.
- Details
- Written by: Don Goulding
Jesus also told this parable [of the self-righteous Pharisee] to some who were confident that they were righteous and looked down on everyone else. (Luke 18:9)
Roy’s old truck rattled on a dusty Mexican road. My heart was as dry as the tumbleweeds that blew past. I’d arranged to be alone with this thin, gentle man so I could take the second step in confession. Confessing to God had gained forgiveness (1 John 1:9). Now I needed to confess to a trusted brother for healing from my sin’s wound (James 5:16).
Roy was perhaps the godliest man I knew, yet he was humble toward his own shortcomings. My admission was barely out of my mouth when he steered around a pothole and launched into prayer.
“In the name of Jesus, I proclaim Don free from the power this secret had over his life. His sin is removed as far as the east is from the west. Amen.
“Now, son, don’t speak again of what’s been pardoned.”
All Christians find forgiveness—some advance toward holiness, very few discover Roy’s combination of purity and patience. That’s where Jesus wants my heart to go next, demanding personal holiness from myself while maintaining resolute patience with his work in others. Both sides of that equation are nearly impossible to attain, yet the power of grace is available for the transformation. Through Jesus, my heart can be made into a habitat that slams the back door on sin and holds the front door open to others.
Rattling down the bumpy road of life, I must focus on the five mile gap between my holiness and that of Jesus, and not on the one inch of improvement I think I’ve gained ahead of someone else. The integrity to admit how far I fall short of God’s mark is essential to improving my righteousness, to accepting others, and to getting along toward Roy’s Christlikeness.
Prayer: Strong Jesus, work grace in me to hate my sin and be patient with others.
- Details
- Written by: Don Goulding
… you are a letter of Christ, delivered by us, written not with ink but by the Spirit of the living God, not on stone tablets but on tablets of human hearts. (2 Corinthians 3:3)
The tablet of my heart seems like an impossible medium for Christ’s grand communication. How can he write anything in this infinitesimal space? My heart is a mere speck, a bit of grime stirred from the dust of the world and not fit to herald the King’s proclamation.
It is a wonder we are God’s letters of Christ. We are placed into the world to communicate his love and forgiveness. He could approach each human directly, like when he spoke to Moses from the bush. I believe he prefers a magnetic pull. He allows us to prove we are attracted to him as he is to us. Rather than a burning bush, he draws us near though the Bible, nature, and his most compelling medium—human heart tablets.
As a letter of Christ, the worst thing I can do is dress up my tablet. Pretending self-sufficiency writes a lie on my heart. Instead of reading, this messed up ninny has grace from Jesus that you can have too, they read, this saint has his life all together—something you’ll never attain. Others are deceived into thinking I belong to God because I earned something they can’t.
The truth is I am a mote hovering in the radiance of Christ’s glory. It is a testament to his grace that the Lord seeks out flecks like me. He converts a dust floater into a museum quality object of beauty. Onlookers gasp. The wonder is not in the speck, but in the light that strikes it. Laud the white-hot pure light, seen only where it ignites the lint.
Prayer: Spirit of the living God, may everyone I meet today see you on my heart.