Good morning Brothers and Sisters,
What is Baptism, and why is it important for a Christian?
There are many scriptures that explain the importance of baptism.
But I’d like to highlight 1 Peter 3: 21.
…and this water symbolizes baptism that now saves you also—not the removal of dirt from the body but the pledge of a clear conscience toward God. It saves you by the resurrection of Jesus Christ,
In this scripture, Peter relates baptism to the flood during Noah’s time that was used to erase the world from it’s evil while saving just eight people in order to start again with a more focused approach on God.
Just like the flood, it was used to destroy sin, but save righteousness. And in that same way baptism is destroying the fleshy, sinful part of our mind, body, spirit, and allowing us to pledge a clear conscience towards God. And this is thanks to the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus. It is through Jesus that this baptism has the power to change lives, not just forgive sins (John’s Baptism)
HOWEVER, just like the flood, it may not erase sin for good. After the flood, people were still sinning on Earth, and maybe just as much as before the flood. And baptism could be like that too, after baptism we may go back to doing whatever we were doing before we got baptized.
But now it is up to us. Baptism allows us to decide to choose God or choose our Flesh. Before baptism we were slaves to sins, now through baptism, and faith, we are free.

What will you do with this freedom?

With love,

Ayodeji Alaketu