WHY I GOT BAPTIZED

I was baptized as an infant in the Catholic Church.  To be honest, at only a few weeks old, I don’t really remember it all too well.

I was baptized again when I was 20… and I will never forget that day.  I was baptized at Hope Church in Wilton, CT, and I was baptized with one of my closest childhood friends, Matt.

I was baptized in a hot tub.  They called it a ‘baptistry’ – but this ‘baptistry’ certainly looked a lot like a hot tub.  It would have been nice to have been baptized in the Ocean, but getting baptized in 95-degree water – well let’s just say I didn’t complain.

I got baptized in front of a lot of people.  I knew some of them, but not all of them.  I had a lot of my family and friends present, but I got drenched mostly in front of a crowd I did not know.

I’ll never forget the day I got baptized, but more than that – I will NEVER forget WHY I got baptized.

I did not get baptized to get something – say salvation.
I did not get baptized to impress God or people – not all that impressive.
I did not get baptized in hopes to get a spiritual high – doesn't really work like that.
I did not get baptized because I was pressured by people to do it – I was actually invited by my pastor to take that step.

So… WHY did I get baptized? 

Simply put, I was a follower of Jesus, and I wanted everyone to know that.

I wanted to make a public declaration about something that I had kept private for years.  Yes, there were many who knew that I was a Christian, but after living for so many years with so many different masks, I wanted to take off ALL of my masks and just let people know that I was with Jesus.

In looking back, I had all sorts of reasons as to why I should not get baptized.  

I was scared – not sure of what, but I was.
I felt like a hypocrite – wasn't always acting like a Christian.
I was embarrassed – not sure why, but I was.
I didn’t feel ready – meaning, I was still sinning more than I'd care to admit.

But at the end of the day – none of those were good enough reasons to keep me out of the hot tub – I mean baptistry.  None of those reasons were more powerful than the simple reality that I just wanted to do something that I knew Jesus was calling me to do – namely, tell others that I was with Him. 

At the end of the day, it was an obedience thing... keep doing what I wanted to do or begin doing what Jesus wanted me to do.  And getting baptized was what Jesus wanted me to do.

In essence – that’s what baptism is all about.  It’s about telling others that you are with Jesus.  It’s about going public… outing yourself as it were.  Outing yourself is not easy, especially when I knew that post-baptism, my friends would be watching me more carefully.  Specifically watching to see if I was really with Jesus, or if I just said I was with Jesus.  In many ways, getting baptized helped hold me accountable to living publicly what had been more of a private thing.  

Being a Christian is a personal-public thing.  Meaning, I have a personal relationship with Jesus, but that personal relationship with Jesus is lived out in the context of community.  Baptism makes public a personal decision.

I got baptized.  I’m thankful I did. 

What about you – have you made public what is personal?  Have you let others know that you are with Jesus?

If you’ve never been baptized before and you are with Jesus – like my pastor invited me to get baptized, I’m inviting you to get baptized to make public your personal relationship with Jesus.

And would you know it, we just happen to be celebrating baptisms this Sunday, September 29th.  We are busting out the hot tub, I mean ‘baptistry’ this Sunday and if you’ve never taken the step to get baptized, well, let’s take that step together this Sunday!

Before you leave, let me leave you with one of my ALL-TIME favorite baptism pictures… her name is Rose, and she was in her late 80’s when she got baptized.  I share this with you because every time I see it, well, I remember that it’s NEVER too late to get baptized!