Baptism means that you’ve been cleansed of your original and actual sins 💧✝️. It means you’ve had a heavenly birth 👼✨. But you’re not in heaven yet, right?

You are a heavenly person on this earthly pilgrimage 🌍. You were born from above, living your heavenly life, but still wrestling with sin ⚔️.

Luther asks in the Small Catechism, “What Does Such Baptizing With Water Indicate?” 📜💦

What does my heavenly life look like here below, in my baptismal identity? It’s daily contrition (remorse) and repentance 🙏💔.

Here’s the key thing about repentance: We’re not repenting to a God who hates us, who is angry at us, or who is out to get us ❌.

We repent to the one true God, our heavenly Father who loves us 💖👑, who sent His Son to die for us ✝️💔.

The Holy Spirit keeps you holy, keeps you in the one true faith, and brings you to the Father, joyfully repenting of all your sins 🙌.

Why does the Father forgive you? Not because you’re really, really, really sorry 😢😢😢. He forgives you because He is gracious 🙏, because His Son has already dealt with all of your sin ✝️, and because in baptism, He made a promise that you are His forever 🤝.

God’s not going to go back on that 🌟. Jesus is yours. He has claimed you as His own ✝️❤️.

Your pastor will keep handing Him over to you 🍷🥖 until you finally breathe that last breath 🕯️ — when there will be no more suffering, no more sorrow, no more pain, and no more need to repent because you’ll be in heaven 🌅✨.

Contributor Chris Hull is the senior pastor at Immanuel Lutheran Church and Student Center in Macomb, IL.

#higherthings #lcms #lutheran #baptism

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