“And he took them the same hour of the night and washed their wounds; and he was baptized at once, he and all his family.” – Acts 16:33
As we see so often in Acts, the first act of obedience for those who believe in Jesus is to be baptized. While not required for salvation, it is consistently assumed of all believers in the Bible. Baptism is meant to be our immediate public confession of our new faith in Jesus. As we identify with the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ, we tell the world that we have been united with Him through faith.
While we must be as sure as we can be that people genuinely believe in Jesus before being baptized, we shouldn’t expect or require them to be deeply knowledgeable, discipled extensively, or theologically sophisticated. We shouldn’t be putting up barriers to baptism! Baptism represents the beginning of our faith journey, an initial step of obedience and visible announcement of our new birth.
Likewise, baptism shouldn’t be where we stop, freezing in place as a Christian. We aren’t done yet, in fact, we’ve barely begun! Baptism should be the first step of many. After baptism, we must be teaching and mentoring new believers in how to walk in faith and grow in Christ throughout the remainder of their lives.
If you haven’t yet been baptized as a believer, what’s holding you back? If you have been, what are you doing now to continue growing in Christ?