And I feel jealous!
First off, Jesus is perfect. He didn’t need to be baptised. He didn’t need to declare to the world He has turned away from sin and repented and is now dedicating Himself to God. He has no sin. He is God!
My baptism was, well, with my wife and daughter. Quite historical. We were the first family to be baptised at the evening service of Union Church of Manila. We felt loved and celebrated by our home church. But no heavenly theatrics! No doves. No voices.
I am not bemoaning Jesus’ status as favourite Son. After all, He is the One and only begotten. But what child doesn’t long to make his parents proud? Don’t we all long for that affirmation? “I love this son. I am well pleased with you.”
Did Jesus need that affirmation?
The old exhortation was this: if you work hard enough to be as perfect as Jesus, maybe, just maybe, you’d earn enough good-works points to hear, “Well done, good and faithful servant.” But you gotta work hard for it. And I believe that. It’s true. Servanthood—serving God—that’s work. But I’m looking at my sonship. The one I received by grace. The adoption I received as a free gift with my salvation. I long to hear God say He loves this son. He is pleased by this son, too.
So, I do need to be like Jesus. But He’s perfect. Not for all eternity can I strive to be like that.
Not without His help. Not without His redemption. Not without His death on the cross and resurrection from the tomb. Not without His Holy Spirit.
But perhaps, I can emulate Jesus in His love for the Father. I can never obey God one hundred percent of the time. I will make mistakes. I will fail. I will need grace every day. But I can try my best to love God.
After all, He loved me first.
So maybe, maybe there was a celebration in heaven at my baptism. At all of our baptisms. Except we didn’t get to hear it. It happened in Heaven.
And if I think about God loving me perfectly, completely, then my heart can respond with loving Him back.
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