Baptism

(Picture from lds.org)

I was baptized a long time ago when I turned eight years old. I don't remember much about that day or if I truly understood what it meant to be baptized. I only knew I was being baptized because that is what Jesus did and I want to be like Jesus.

(Picture from lds.org)

As I have gotten older and studied the gospel, I have come to understand why we were are baptized and what it means in our lives. I have been able to make it more meaningful in my life by renewing my baptismal covenants every week through the Sacrament. As an eight year old, I may not have been able to grasp the full meaning, but as an adult, I have been able to to more fully appreciate why and understand how I knew it was the right thing to do when I was eight.

This week in our New Testament class, I learned about the symbolism that baptism has to events in Christ's life as I studied Romans chapter 6. We are taught that we are baptized for a remission of our sins, to have the things we do wrong washed away if we have repent of them. Being baptized is like burying our sins. This is symbolic of Christ dying for us. When Christ died, his body was "buried" just as we should bury the sins we have repented of. As Christ raised from the died, we are raised our of our sins. We become a new person through Christ as we repent and promise never to do those things again.

One thing we were asked to consider in this symbolism, why couldn't someone be baptized by sprinkling? As I though about this, when we bury someone, we don't just sprinkle dirt on the coffin and call it good, we bury the coffin deep in the earth. As we bury our former sins, we also don'e just want to sprinkle water and call it good, we want to bury them deep so that we can be a new person as we come out of the waters of baptism. Being baptized by full immersion in the water and coming out is a representation of being born again, a taking on of a new life, a life committed to being more like Jesus and acting in His name.

"For the natural man is an enemy to God,...unless he yields to the enticings of the Holy Spirit, and putteth off the natural man and becometh a saint through the atonement of Christ the Lord, and becometh as a child, submissive, meek, humble, patient, full of love, willing to submit to all things which the Lord seeth fit to inflict upon him, even as a child doth submit to his father." (Mosiah 3:19)

By being baptized, we are putting off or burying our natural man to become like Christ. We promise, as we are baptized, to more like Christ, to be His representative here on earth and to do His work. He showed us by example and taught us what we should do as we serve those around us. Christ is the source of our freedom.

"...being made free from sin, and become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life.

For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our  Lord." (Romans 6:22-23)

Through baptism, we are free from the death that sin can bring on us and we receive the gift of eternal life. I know that every day is a process to stay free, but as we repent every day and apply the Atonement, we can forever be free of the effects of sin. We can receive all that our Heavenly Father promises and look forward with hope in this life.

 

"As You Sow, So Shall You Reap"

If you were raised in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, you may be familiar with the phrase "to be in the world but not of the world." Throughout the years, we have come to know that the world does things differently from what Heavenly Father would have us do. If we follow what the world does, then we are of the world, but if we do what Heavenly Father would have us do, then we are only in the world.

In Galatians 6:8, Paul taught that through our actions and choices, we will either be blessed, or we will be miserable.  If our works are those of the world, we may experience fame and fortune for a time but eventually that will all go away. If our works are centered on the Savior and all that He taught, are blessings will be eternal and we will know true happiness, not only in this life but in the life to come.

One thing that we can do to show that we are following the teachings of Christ is to bear each other’s burden. Paul teaches this in Galatians 6:2, but we are also taught this in the Book of Mormon in Mosiah 18:8-10. We must reach out to comfort those that are mourning and suffering. As we do this, we are showing that we have taken upon us the name of Christ. We are His hands here on earth to help those in need.

Our actions here on earth are important. In Doctrine and Covenants 1:10, we are taught that what we do to others, we will also experience or will be given back to us. This returns us to Paul’s teaching again in Galatians 6:7-8 saying that we cannot hide from what we have done or will do. If we continually do good to all men we will receive good back; however, if do un-Christlike things, we can expect bad things to happen to us.

It’s not easy to do good all the time but we will be blessed in our efforts. Paul teaches us in Galatians 6:9 to “…not be weary of well doing...” Doctrine and Covenants 58:27 we are also taught that we “…should be anxiously engaged in a good cause…”As we make the effort to reach out and to find good things to do, I know Heavenly Father will know of our hearts through our works. He will know that we have listened and applied the teachings of His son, our Savior, and desire only the good things He has for us in the life to come. If we get tired of all the good things that we’re doing, we should kneel in prayer and ask for strength to keep going and He will send us that strength.