Getting in the Water

Someone has said that, "The tragedy of life is not that it ends so soon, but that we wait so long to begin it." We understand that life begins at conception (read Psalm 139), but we also realize that there are many different ways in which we are said to be "living." There is our first breath, our first words, and our first steps. Later on it is a first date, a first kiss, et cetera. Perhaps the better question - "When does life really begin?"

2 Corinthians 5:17 reads, "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new." Put that together with Colossians 3:1-4 - "If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God. Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth. For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is our life appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory."

Now observe from those two passages the following:

1. Spiritual life begins when someone dies. We must die to our old self, the person who was a sinner, who once walked after the pleasures of the flesh. (Rom. 6:3-4; 10-11).

2. Spiritual life begins when someone is buried. The way we put away that man who has died is to bury him in a tomb. Just as Jesus put sin in the grave, so must we. (Rom. 6:6).

3. Spiritual life begins when someone is raised. Jesus told Nicodemus that spiritual life was an impossibility without one being born again. This involved being raised by the power of God, through the water and the spirit, in order to obtain everlasting life (Rom. 6:5, 9).

4. Christ IS our life (Col. 3:4; also see Gal. 2:20; Phil. 1:21)

In June of 1981 Reader's Digest published the following story:
Kim Linehan holds the world record in the Women's 1500-meter freestyle. According to her coach, Paul Bergen, the 18-year-old is the leading amateur woman distance swimmer in the world. Kim does endless exercises and swims 7 to 12 miles a day. The hardest part of her regimen? "Getting in the water," she says.

We are interested in resolutions this time of year because we are interested in living. We want to do better, be better, and just plain live better. We know that the life that God wants to give us is the best life, and that we are not really living until we are living in Christ. But the hardest part is still the most obvious solution. It is getting started. It is letting go and letting God. It is getting in the water.

"Now as they went down the road, they came to some water. And the eunuch said, "See, here is water. What hinders me from being baptized?" ~ Acts 8:36