John 14:15 If you love Me, you will keep My commandments.

Restaurants with public restrooms feature signs indicating "EMPLOYEES MUST WASH HANDS BEFORE RETURNING TO WORK." Such a sign has dual purposes: to remind staff to wash and to assure patrons that this business takes cleanliness seriously. Those who disregard this injunction endanger not only themselves but also everyone and everything they touch. Sadly, many Christians display the same indifference concerning Holy Baptism. Holy Baptism is so vital that our Lord commands it. Holy Baptism is concerned not with preventing the common cold or warding off food-borne illness, but rather with salvation, eternity, heaven, and hell. Yet, like the callow youth who is too busy to wash before returning to work, we care little for Jesus' injunction to take this saving Sacrament to the world.

Hand soaps found in many bathrooms include both a germ-killing agent and a moisturizer. Such a soap takes away but also adds. So it is with Holy Baptism. Holy Baptism removes our sins, past, present, and future. God doesn't stop there. In this Sacrament, God creates saving faith, grants eternal life, and gives us His Holy Spirit. He makes us His child forever. Our own Baptism connects us to Jesus' Baptism in the Jordan River, to His sinless life and innocent suffering. In other words, God sees His Son when He looks at one who has been baptized. God commands His Cgurch to baptize, not that man's efforts would save, but rather that sinner would be saved through Jesus' efforts.
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