It's Valentine's Day and I am driving Ethan to preschool for a day filled with partying and too much sugar. He sits quitely in the back seat contemplating the world. He speaks up, "Mom, why don't some people believe in God?" He's asked this question before. I initially think he is too young to be worrying his young mind with such deep things but I realize this boy is his father's boy- this is just the beginning.
"Well son, Satan tells people lies and they believe them." I'm wishing his dad were here to field some of these questions.
My very worried son confesses, "I still believe in God but sometimes my brain tells me bad things... I guess my brain is going to hell."
Yikes! Where do I go from here? My poor 5 1/2 year old boy is dealing with some serious stuff here and I don't know how to comfort him. I explain to him that we are saint and sinner and these are the kind of things we struggle with this side of eternity. He sits there quietly. I am at a loss for what else to say. All of the sudden he perks up and a big smile overtakes his face, "But I was baptized!" He starts to get excited and a few seconds later starts to sing a song we had learned in family worship:
I was baptized, happy day
All my sins were washed away
God looked down on me and smiled
I became His own dear child.
He sang this over and over again. He was comforted by his baptism. I had often heard the phrase, "Look to your baptism" but I must confess I didn't fully grasp the concept until this morning. My husband reminded me of what Luther said in his Large Catechism: "But these blind guides are unwilling to see this, namely, that faith must have something which it believes, that is, of which it takes hold, and upon which it stands and rests. Thus faith clings to the water, and believes that it is Baptism, in which there is pure salvation and life; not through the water (as we have sufficiently stated), but through the fact that it is embodied in the Word and institution of God, and the name of God inheres in it. Now, if I believe this, what else is it than believing in God as in Him who has given and planted His Word into this ordinance, and proposes to us this external thing wherein we may apprehend such a treasure?"
When my son looked inward he was confused and unsure, but when he looked outward to his baptism and what Christ had done for him there was comfort and hope. I pray that he will remember his baptism each and every day, never forgetting that all his sins were washed away.
"Well son, Satan tells people lies and they believe them." I'm wishing his dad were here to field some of these questions.
My very worried son confesses, "I still believe in God but sometimes my brain tells me bad things... I guess my brain is going to hell."
Yikes! Where do I go from here? My poor 5 1/2 year old boy is dealing with some serious stuff here and I don't know how to comfort him. I explain to him that we are saint and sinner and these are the kind of things we struggle with this side of eternity. He sits there quietly. I am at a loss for what else to say. All of the sudden he perks up and a big smile overtakes his face, "But I was baptized!" He starts to get excited and a few seconds later starts to sing a song we had learned in family worship:
I was baptized, happy day
All my sins were washed away
God looked down on me and smiled
I became His own dear child.
He sang this over and over again. He was comforted by his baptism. I had often heard the phrase, "Look to your baptism" but I must confess I didn't fully grasp the concept until this morning. My husband reminded me of what Luther said in his Large Catechism: "But these blind guides are unwilling to see this, namely, that faith must have something which it believes, that is, of which it takes hold, and upon which it stands and rests. Thus faith clings to the water, and believes that it is Baptism, in which there is pure salvation and life; not through the water (as we have sufficiently stated), but through the fact that it is embodied in the Word and institution of God, and the name of God inheres in it. Now, if I believe this, what else is it than believing in God as in Him who has given and planted His Word into this ordinance, and proposes to us this external thing wherein we may apprehend such a treasure?"
When my son looked inward he was confused and unsure, but when he looked outward to his baptism and what Christ had done for him there was comfort and hope. I pray that he will remember his baptism each and every day, never forgetting that all his sins were washed away.
I LOVE THIS!
ReplyDeleteWe talk about this occasionally in our young adults ministry. Oftentimes there is a separation between baptism and salvation... but looking in the New Testament, it is obvious that they were one and the same event. A person believes and gets baptized almost immediately. It's such a strange concept for some of us in the modern Western world, but what a glorious thing it is!