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The Way of Baptism, Part 7
keeping the new birth experience
by Lisa Panasuk and Andrew & Matthew
Hohnberger with YD
Staff
Part 1
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7 | 8 | 9
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After we are baptized, how can we keep our new birth experience? Messages to Young People, page 118, says, “After the union with Christ has been formed, it can be preserved only by earnest prayer and untiring effort. We must resist, we must deny, we must conquer self. Through the grace of Christ, by courage, by faith, by watchfulness, we may gain the victory.”
Think of a newborn lamb. After it is born, the first thing it does is shake its little head, cough, and start breathing. If it does not do this, it will soon die. The second thing a newborn lamb does is start looking for milk. If a lamb does not get milk within one to two hours of birth, it will die. So it is with us. After we are baptized, we need to nourish ourselves with prayer and Bible study in order to keep our new life in Christ Jesus. “Prayer is the breath of the soul. It is the secret of spiritual power” (Gospel Workers, page 254). “No renewed heart can be kept in a condition of sweetness without the daily application of the salt of the Word. Divine grace must be received daily, or no man will stay converted” (Our High Calling, page 215).
Satan does not like to lose even one of his subjects. After we are baptized, he will try his best to persuade us to remove Christ from the throne of our heart. He does not care what “idol” we set up in His place, as long as it crowds Jesus out of our hearts and lives. In
Testimonies for the Church, Volume 3, page 365, we find this warning: “Those who have put on Christ by baptism, by this act showing their separation from the world and that they have covenanted to walk in newness of life, should not set up idols in their hearts.” At the end of each day we should spend some time examining our lives, asking Jesus if we have placed anything—even family, friends, studies, or work—before Him.
We should never think that once we are baptized we “have it made” in our Christian experience. Instead, God’s plan is for us to grow more and more like Christ, even after our baptism. “Every opportunity, every advantage, every privilege, has been given to us to gain a rich Christian experience; but we do not learn everything all at once. There must be a growth. . . . We are not to think that as soon as we are baptized we are ready to graduate from the school of Christ” (SDA Bible Commentary,
Volume 6, page 1075). After our baptism, Christ will continue to bring sins and character defects to our attention. He will also show us new things He would like us to do for Him. As we choose Christ’s way, we will become more and more like Him.
After we are buried with Christ in baptism and have risen to walk in newness of life, we have a special privilege and responsibility: to reveal Christ to others. Our words, our actions, and our lives will show our love for God. “We are to be consecrated channels, through which the heavenly life is to flow to others. . . . Those who have been buried with Christ in baptism are to rise to newness of life, giving a living representation of the life of Christ” (Testimonies for the Church,
Volume 9, page 20).
As we do this, we will have the joy of seeing others experience the same happiness in Christ that we have found: “All who are consecrated to God will be channels of light. God makes them His agents to communicate to others the riches of His grace. . . . Our influence upon others depends not so much upon what we say, as upon what we are. Men may combat and defy our logic, they may resist our appeals; but a life of disinterested love is an argument they cannot gainsay. A consistent life, characterized by the meekness of Christ, is a power in the world” (The Desire of Ages, pages 141, 142).
May we each, after our baptism, stay committed to the Lord, moment by moment and day by day. May we walk in Christ’s footprints, choose His way, and reflect His life to the world.
Part 1 | 2
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