A Joyful Grave

         

I witnessed a powerful baptism service this morning.  Many people were baptized for the first time as they professed their new relationship with Jesus. Others took that plunge in a demonstration of a new commitment after a time of spiritual brokenness.  Some people were drawing a symbolic line in the sand to mark a day when things would change in their lives and their ministries. The service went long after the usual time that we dismissed, and I needed a bathroom break! But as we watched the Holy Spirit working so powerfully, my husband leaned over and said to me, "You can't leave the room during a funeral service!"

It took me just a second to adjust to what he was saying, but Colossians 2:12 says it pretty much that way. " ...having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through your faith in the working of God, who raised him from the dead."

We were watching a series of burials. Old lives, old attitudes, old struggles, old obstacles were being put away - not just covered up and ignored - but being healed and transformed.

At the end of the service, we watched the ushers prepare the portable baptistry before moving it. Paul said, "Look, they're putting the lid on the coffin..."  - another wise observation from my always witty husband. Baptism is a grave where Jesus buries our past. Romans 6:6 says, "Knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin."

The joy in the house this morning was evident.  Jesus is still moving, still changing lives, still intervening in circumstances.  I hope you are in a place where you witness this freedom taking place in those around you, but more than that, I pray freedom and joy are abundant in your own life. If not, maybe it's time to bury some things of your own.