GodReflection: Power Words

There is an unquestionable finality to death.

To bury a child, a parent, or a pet makes the reality of death final. Not even a follower of Jesus expects resurrection of a loved one prior to the final blast of death awakening trumpets.

Buried marks the end of a relationship.

Paul an apostle of Jesus pastes the powerful imagery of buried onto the word baptism.

I read prior to Paul’s writings where the prophet John baptized people as a confirmation of their repentance and as a symbol of forgiveness. Baptism washed away their sin. One day as John assisted others in baptism Jesus approached and sought baptism as an act of obedience to God. God smiled on the action of His son.

Following the ascension of Jesus, the story of the church unfolds throughout The Acts of the Apostles.  In that story I read where all believers contacted the cleansing blood of Jesus and received the Holy Spirit only through the act of baptism.

After the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus, Paul starts to use the analogy of death, burial, and resurrection to describe the act of baptism.

When I gave my life to Jesus, I died to the past, buried my sins, and received resurrection by the Spirit to live in power and to look forward to the time when death is an antique.

The apostle writes to Christ followers in Rome and Colossae:

We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life. . . having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through your faith in the working of God, who raised him from the dead.

Buried.

Buried with Jesus my sins remained in the grave.

Old I—am I no more. How about that for finality?

I buried a powerless me and arose with Spirit power. I buried sin and arose to live in a state of constant cleansing by the blood of Jesus. I buried an old self and emerged from the grave with a new life. (Sorry, but the sinner’s prayer shortcuts baptism and misses the imagery of burial, cleansing, resurrection, and omits the point in time of the receipt of the Holy Spirit.)

For the non-believer buried has no positive vibes.

However, as a believer in Jesus buried is a word I use to power my walk. It reminds me that I left the power of Satan’s control buried in the waters of baptism.

It reminds me that after my next burial I will rise to life eternal. I will live forever in the presence of God, the Son, the Holy Spirit, and the most fantastic people I knew on earth.

I walk with power from a past burial in anticipation of the next.

Stay tuned.

Dr. Gary J. Sorrells – A GodReflection on Buried as a Power Word.

Gary@Godreflection.org