Tuesday, June 21, 2011

Water

Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved (Mark 16:16).

Water. Such a basic, simple thing, yet so marvelous and important. So easy to take for granted until there is an emergency or we are in need.

People buy water in bottles to keep on hand for when they get thirsty. But in some parts of the world, water is scarce. People are forced to use dirty water for drinking and cooking and personal hygiene. I know a man from the Middle East who still rations his shower water even though he has lived in the States for years. Wars have been fought over access to water; even here in our country there is legal squabbling over water rights. Americans don’t like it when rivers overflow their banks, but in some places spring floods are welcome. Floodwaters bring rich sediment to farmlands and provide the moisture needed for a good spring planting.

Water is essential for good health. Without sweat, the body overheats and shuts down.
If you get lost in the wilderness, you’ll perish from dehydration long before you starve to death. Without water, growing food is impossible. Without water your mouth dries out, costing you the ability to speak.

Water is a miracle substance. If you remember your high school science, liquids shrink into a dense mass when cooled, but water behaves differently. When you freeze water it expands, reducing in density so that it floats instead of sinking. If water did not have this property, life on earth would be very different, perhaps impossible.

Water is essential for life, but it must be in the right amount. Problems happen when there is too little water or too much water. And water is powerful—it only takes a few inches of moving water to sweep a car off the road or drown someone who loses his footing.

Water can both kill and invigorate. How appropriate, then, that Jesus commands the use of water in baptism. When a person is baptized, God uses the water to do two things. First, it kills our sinful nature by drowning it. Second, it invigorates us with new life, life that is clean and fresh, life that comes from the mighty hand of God. The water of Baptism is the water of life, and it is essential for the health of your soul.

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