It fascinates me, how much we grow and change and still stay the same. The older I get the more clear it becomes that learning doesn't always equal changing. Have you ever stopped to think about how the world today is different than it was 10 years ago? 20 years ago? Technology has changed: Our phones, cars, appliances. Medicine and Politics have changed; the list goes on just how much has changed.
Even with all that has changed, is changing, around us it can be a little frustrating how we as a people can refuse to change. It can be a little disturbing and a little uncomfortable to talk about but the truth is there are many people who will make decisions that will satisfy a craving or desire they have even when it hurts themselves or someone else. Just stop and think of the pursuits so many people chase: fame, wealth, sex, power.... Many times we pursue them as if they were God. How deflating it is when you feel like you've achieved only to realize it wasn't everything you'd hoped it would be.
Isaiah was perplexed with the same human condition about 700 years before Jesus walked among us. In Isaiah 44:9-20 he descriped the human condition of people desperate to worship that they worship worthless objects; Idols that can do nothing for them. He knew people, you and I, needed a change and it was found in what we worship.
Jesus made it clear that we can't worship two God's. You will love one and despise the other. It's not enough to "know" Jesus is God; you must come to know him. It's not head knowledge but relationship. It's not an external change but an internal change. John the Baptist puts it this way in Matthew 3:1-2 In those days John the Baptist came to the Judean wilderness and began preaching. His message was, “Repent of your sins and turn to God, for the Kingdom of Heaven is near.” Repent means to turn away, make a change. It begins inward but manifests outward. John the Baptism began baptizing people so they would declare outwardly that inwardly they are not the same.
Baptism is quite powerful because it is public. I love that Jesus was water baptized and demonstrated for us the way to walk out and live a changed life; one we can only find in Jesus.
Pastor Chad Wingenbach
