Let’s
say you’re going on a trip. It might be a quick trip to the grocery store or a
really big vacation to Europe. For the purposes of this discussion let’s make
it a big vacation to Europe. You’ve researched all the places you want to go.
You have all your hotel reservations and your airline tickets. You’ve reserved
any special activities in advance, for example an island cruise off the coast
of Scotland. You’ve packed everything you need for the trip and it’s loaded in
your car. You’ve double checked your itinerary and everything you've packed.
Now you’re ready to go. What if you decided to stay in the house rather than
walk out of the house and get into your car? The trip never happens. All of your
planning, all the money you spent, all your packing is for naught if you never
leave your house. Any trip, any journey is impossible without that first step.
You can't go for a long walk without getting out of your chair and taking that
first step toward the door. You can't go for a motorcycle ride without swinging
your leg over the bike first. The first step is the key.
At
this point you're probably thinking "OK, OK, when you're done stating the
obvious, where are you going with this?" Consider the apostle Paul. All
his travels, his teaching, the beatings and the imprisonment - all the things
he did in his service to the Lord would never have happened if he hadn't taken
the first step on his spiritual journey. What was that first step? In Acts 9,
Paul is confronted by Jesus in a vision on the road to Damascus. He is blinded
and led into Damascus where he sits, sightless, for three days, neither eating
nor drinking. At that point, the Lord sent a man named Ananias to lay hands on
him and heal him. What was the first thing Ananias told him to do after
restoring his sight? Paul recalls it himself in Acts 22:16: "And now why
do you wait? Rise and be baptized and wash away your sins, calling on his
name". That was the first step for Paul: rise and be baptized and wash
away your sins. The rest of his life would not have been possible without
that first step
Here’s
another example. In Acts 2, what was the first thing Peter told the crowd to do after they had been
convinced of their guilt? Acts 2:38: “Repent and be baptized every one of you
in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will
receive the gift of the Holy Spirit." We see in both Acts 22:16 & Acts
2:38 why baptism is an essential part of becoming a Christian: it is for the
forgiveness of sins. No forgiveness of sins means no access to God's grace,
which we all need because "all have sinned and fall short of the glory of
God" (Romans 3:23). You can't be a Christian without baptism. It's the essential
first step. So, if you're reading this and you believe that Jesus is the son of God but you haven't been baptized, I say to you what Ananias said to Paul: "And now why do you wait? Rise and be baptized and wash away your sins, calling on his name".
