| One and Done? - article by Joel Hempel
Not long ago, I was talking with a friend when he asked about the value of baptism. Is it a one-and-done thing? What do you mean? We have the Lord’s Supper at our church every week, but our baptism was one time only. I see what you mean. It’s an interesting question. All Christian churches agree that baptism is valuable and necessary; we just can’t agree on how, what, why, or when it should be done. We Lutherans are among those who believe baptism is a means by which God conveys grace and creates faith. Since in baptism, God is taking the initiative toward us (rather than us responding to God), baptism can occur as early as infancy when God establishes a saving relationship with the child. Of course, some Christians were not baptized as a child and received the Spirit’s invitation to faith later in life. In this case, the person is baptized after accepting Jesus Christ as Savior. With their baptism the person is gifted with God’s grace and the many blessings accompanying it. One and done implies once something occurs, it is the end of it – like a tournament in which a basketball team loses. For many of us, maybe most of us, baptism is treated as if it is done: It happened; it brought us into the Christian faith, so we can be thankful for it and then forget it. But the blessings that accompany grace only have their beginning in baptism. Picture a baby at her baptism. Traditionally, she is wrapped in a white gown and held securely in her mom’s loving arms. Now, imagine that same baptized child of God all grown up, but now she is held secure in the arms of Jesus. When Jesus looks at this precious child of God’s re-creation, he does not see her shortcomings and sins; he sees only her spiritual attractiveness, wrapped in the righteousness of God. When we fail to remember our baptism and act as if it is done and part of our forgotten past, we are at risk of not seeing ourselves as God sees us. The older I get, the less I like looking in a full-length mirror when naked after a shower. I’ll spare you the details. But after I am fully clothed in an attractive outfit, I like seeing the end result. For our spiritual well-being, God wants us to only look at ourselves fully clothed in saving grace and in the loving arms of Jesus. Daily, God encourages us to claim the resulting beauty of our baptism. Of course, we mess up and offend God when we choose to go against his will. And, of course, we need to look at our shortcomings to change. But ALWAYS, repentance and change begin by looking at our sinfulness through the lens of our baptism because God’s grace and our loving relationship with him give us the will, strength, and courage to change. Although our baptism is one and complete, it is not one and done. It’s one and for now. | 
