Thursday, August 15, 2013

Baptism 5 - Cost of Discipleship Pt 134


Bonhoeffer- 'The daily dying of the Christian life is merely the consequence of the one baptismal death, just as the tree dies after its roots have been cut away. Henceforth the law which governs the life of the baptized is "Likewise reckon ye yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin'' (Rom. 6:11). From now on the baptized can know themselves only as dead men, in whom everything necessary for salvation has already been accomplished. The baptized live, not by a literal repetition of this death, but by a constant renewal of their faith in the death of Christ as his act of grace in us. The source of their faith lies in the once-and-for-allness of Christ' death, which they have experienced in their baptism.'

My thoughts-

'A CONSTANT RENEWAL OF THEIR FAITH IN THE DEATH OF CHRIST AS HIS ACT OF GRACE IN US.'

Our Savior does NOT die over and over and over again as some faiths would have us believe. He did truly die ONCE FOR ALL.

Heb 10:10  By the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all

His body is not offered over and over and over endless dying and living, dying and living.  The ONLY thing that is done over and over if you believe and follow the truth of our Savior is a SYMBOLIC gesture of His sacrifice- His death and His life.  It is SYMBOLIC and meant to remind us, to keep us in REMBRANCE of His Sacrifice. Our Savior NEVER carved off any of His flesh, or drained any of His blood into a cup and offered it to the apostles! HE DID NOT DO THAT! He never ever intended for us to believe that His ACTUAL REAL flesh and blood are to be consumed by us, never! Yet there are some faiths that teach that is what is being done during communion, it's a LIE! It's not Biblical at all! And truly, common sense tells us that our Savior would NOT want us consuming anything we are told is supposed to be His REAL flesh and blood!

Our Savior died ONCE and as Bonhoeffer states- we die with Him, but NOT in a literal dying daily, but a figurative dying daily, a sacrifice of selfishness. We truly do need to have our faith CONSTANTLY renewed in what our Savior did for us! And truly we must die daily with the understanding we LIVE in Christ as HE LIVES!  We live through HIM and HIM ALONE! We can never will ourselves to live forever, never. We can never will ourselves eternal life, it is something GIVEN to us, something we will NEVER EVER deserve, a true gift that we can NEVER EVER repay!

Please Lord help us to truly comprehend baptism and all that it means! We are baptized once, just as Christ died once, but the results of His death go on forever, just as the results of our baptism will go on forever as long as we remain in HIM, by HIS GRACE.

In YOUR AMAZING LOVE MY WONDERFUL SAVIOR!  All in YOU ALWAYS!

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