A friend of mine was baptized this morning. This is his testimony:
Hi my name is Mike and I’m a Christian …
I’m here today to be baptized as a public proclamation of my faith. Like many, I was baptized as an infant; but have never made the personal decision to partake in baptism. I would say I was a peripheral believer my whole life, but never really personalized my faith until High School . Even then though, there were still some aspects of my faith that I continually struggled with and battled- pieces of the walk I never fully bought into.
About two years ago, shortly after moving to Muncie, I really began to look deep at my faith – which aspects were important, and which pieces I was struggling with. More and more I just couldn’t get past a roadblock that I had never crossed over – the one aspect of my faith that I’ve always battled: Forgiveness.
My entire life I’ve always been able to forgive others easily. It’s definitely a spiritual gift that God has blessed me with. But, there was one person I’ve never been able to forgive, that I’ve never let go; and that’s myself. I’ve always held myself hostage to my past mistakes and former life, believing that I somehow did not qualify for the gift of grace. To me it has always been too easy and I was too undeserving. It was for everyone else but not me. I would lie myself constantly telling myself things like “If everyone only knew” or “it’s different for me.”
So today, I am not only here as a personal public proclamation of faith, but also to be washed anew in forgiveness. After wrestling with this topic for my entire life I’ve finally submitted to the Grace that God has freely given to me. I’m opening my hands to the forgiveness that I have in Christ knowing that He is my qualification -not my former life -living confidently in Romans 8:1 that there is no condemnation for those in Christ. Today …I’m washing off my old self and moving forward, forgiven.
Heavenly Father, thank you for your constant grace and forgiveness. Thank you for the gift of life. Thank you for raising us from the dead with the same power of the Resurrection. Forgive us as we forgive others, and ourselves. Show each of us that your love and forgiveness is unique to each of us individually. Baptize our minds, hearts, and bodies as we publicly and privately proclaim your name daily.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rJMnoRC3l5k