Ephesians 4:4-6  There is one body and one spirit - just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call - one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.

Luther talks of casting sugar into water to make delicious drinks.  Many dollars are spent today on our sugary sodas, juices, coffees, and teas. If you take away the sugar and call them diet, they're just not the same. When it comes to Baptism, the minute you take away the Word of God, you make it nothing. If we don't have the Word of God with that water in the baptismal font, then all we have is a silly and meaningless ritual.

God's Word makes the water of Baptism sweet. When the Israelites tried the desert water at Marah, it was bitter. But God's Word made it sweet when He told Moses to toss in a piece of wood (Exodus 15:25). During the time of Elisha, the men of Jericho came to him because their water was bad and causing sickness and death. At God's word, Elisha took a bowl of salt and threw it in the water. The water was healed (2 Kings 2:22).

How sweet the water of Baptism becomes when the Word of God is added! Sweeter than honey and sugar (Psalm 119:103)! This "Word-water" of Baptism becomes living water that has the power to drive away our bitter sin and death and open the doors of sweet paradise. Even more than that, God Himself comes to us in the "Word-water" and makes His home with us through the work of the Holy Spirit. Be assured that there is nothing silly or meaningless whenever God's Word is present.
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