Whom have I in heaven but You? And there is nothing on earth I desire when it is set beside You. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever. For behold, those who are far from You shall perish. You put an end to everyone who is unfaithful to You. But for me, it is good to be near God. I have made the Lord God my refuge that I may tell of all Your works. (Verses 25-28)
In the baptistery of the big church in Alexandria, Virginia, the pastor held out his hand and beckoned the lone candidate for baptism into the water as the choir sang its opening hymn. As the strains of the medley rang through the church, the young boy looked around, trying to spot his family in the second row where he was told they would be. His dark blond hair and olive skin were a contrast to the white-haired preacher who put his hand on the boy's back and waited for the choir to be seated. As the preacher began to speak, the boy looked straight ahead, listening for his cue. "Who is Jesus to you?"
Nicholas, my first grandson, then looked to the congregation and said in a loud voice, "He is my Lord."
With his arms folded over his chest, Nicholas was dipped into the warm baptismal water and raised immediately up out of it, dripping, like Jesus before Him, raised up to walk out the Christian faith hand in hand with God. Tears kept stinging my eyes as I tried to focus on the immersion and emersion of my Nicholas. Jesus lives in him. Making room for Himself in this child who is willing to follow Him as Lord. I know Nicholas doesn't know all that will mean to him in the future. I don't either. But Jesus does. Following Him first in the obedience of baptism and then into a world that needs a Savior. We are saved to walk in the good works Jesus has already prepared for us. One step at a time. I am praying for each of my grandson's footprints in an ever-changing, ever more difficult world.
A classical guitarist was playing a medley of hymns when Nicholas joined us on the second row of seats at church. His hair still wet and glistening with baptismal dew, my grandson came to sit beside me. He threw his arms around me as I sat there, and we held each other tightly, my cheek against the dampness of his head, until the last chord died away into the quietness of the church. Not just bond of grandmother to grandson.....more. We are now two Christians, brother and sister in Him, clinging to our Lord and learning together how to walk with Him.
You can't buy this. It's not for sale. Nothing earthly compares to what we have in Christ. Nothing here is forever. Anything I have that I set beside Christ falls woefully short. No matter how wonderful it might be. When I put any earthly possession or accomplishment next to Christ and look at it, it becomes very small. Nicholas and I are family here, but now we are family there, too. The moment he asked Jesus into his heart, we became eternal parts of each other as children of God. The gift of adoption. That is what our family felt yesterday. That is what made my grandson and I hug and hug. Like a soft rope had been coiled around us, binding our hearts for a few lovely moments. Looking into each other's eyes with a new sense of who the other is. Near to each other at the same time we are near to God. It was good to be in His presence. Practice for eternity. Empowered to go out and light the world and salt the earth because we know how precious it is to be a child of God.
I am praying for Nicholas and me today. For all of us. It is in that nearness to God that we learn about Him. Bound together with Him in love, we venture out to do exploits in His name. Energized and led by the Holy Spirit, we see Jesus recreate, restore, and resurrect. From our refuge in Him we watch as He creates something out of nothing, binds up broken hearts, feeds the hungry, releases the captive from the enemy and protects the widow and orphan. But, also, in our nearness to Him we get closer to each other, basking in the fellowship that comes from Jesus sitting in the center of our individual lives. When we touch one another, we touch Him. That is what Nicholas and I had yesterday. A new touch. Jesus in me loving Jesus in him. May we all draw ever closer to the Father Who is uniquely God yet walked among us, touched and kissed us, blessed and anointed us, and waits for us to be with Him eternally where we will enjoy Him together forever. And may we love each other in His name.
Let us draw near with a pure heart and with full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold fast the confession of our faith without wavering, for He Who promised is faithful. Hebrews 10
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