My Birthday into the Body of Christ

I was Baptized 8 years ago today. It has been such an amazing journey living my life with the resurrected Christ. The journey has had its ups & downs, but doesn’t every journey? It is a constant struggle actually, I continually do the things I shouldn’t do and fail to do the things I ought to do, wretched man that I am. Thankfully Christ was faithful to go to the cross, descend into hell, take my sins to the place from whence they came, conquer death, conquer corruption, and by his resurrection offer life to all who believe in His Name, the Name which is above every Name. The Name which we do not quite fully understand…The Name which is defined by “I am who I am.” The Name YHWH. The Name which is always accompanied by His presence. He is who He is and He will always be with us. He will never leave us nor forsake us. If God is for us, who could be against us? Many could be against us, but it is trivial in comparison. The Creator of All things continually creates and sustains us. The Very Same God who created all things in the beginning now recreates us through the life He offers us through His Resurrection. Crazy: the same God who created us now re-creates us. My first birth has been followed by my second birth when I was baptized, I have been re-created. Boggles my mind. The old man is gone, dead. I died to him 8 years ago. The life I now live, I in live in Christ who loved me and gave himself for me.

These thoughts may seem completely random, but I just want to shout from the rooftops that I know the King of kings and Lord of lords and I want everyone to know Him. The journey is difficult and does not offer simplicity or security. It is painful. It is painful because of our sin, not because He is care-less or incapable of taking away the pain. That is the whole point of the Incarnation of Christ: God as God could not empathize with our pain; He needed to become a man in order to empathize with our pain. Jesus Christ is more human than you or I, and He understands our struggle. He did not suffer on the cross in our place so that we no longer have to suffer; He suffered on the cross on our behalf so that we could have a saving companion with us in the midst of our suffering.

Have I learned all there is to know about the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit? Not even close. And even if I could somehow comprehend all the things of God, there is no way I could have the adequate words to express the thoughts. God is a beautiful mystery. Kinda like my wife in a sense…Sara is a beautiful mystery and she continues to be a mystery to me. The day I figure her out is the day I lie to myself and realize that I have stopped pursuing her. I pursue her because the mystery, the mystery is beautiful. That is why men always have affairs with “the secretary,” “the Brazilian model,” “the next door neighbor,” et al…it is because we find them mysterious. The mystery is “sexy.” Have I just equated God with being a mysterious and sexy person? Yes. God is beautiful and He is mysterious. He is so much more than we can ever comprehend.

Today is my baptismal birthday into the Body of Christ, thank you for celebrating with me.

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