Standing in the Baptismal Font

"Don't you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 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.

If we have been united with him like this in his death, we will certainly also be united with him in his resurrection. For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin— because anyone who has died has been freed from sin.

Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him." -Romans 6:3-8

"Thus it appears what a great, excellent thing Baptism is, which delivers us from the jaws of the devil and makes us God's own, suppresses and takes away sin, and then daily strengthens the new man; and is and remains ever efficacious until we pass from this estate of misery to eternal glory.

For this reason let every one esteem his Baptism as a daily dress in which he is to walk constantly, that he may ever be found in the faith and its fruits" -Large Catechism

"...we do not forget that justifying faith is not the matter of a single moment, but the substance of our whole lives. Such faith is not some act of our commitment to God that is particularly perceived and experienced in some isolated moments of our life. Rather, it is the constant though always clouded reliance on the Gospel's promise of grace. Repentance also, according to the Gospel, is not just a single act but goes on our whole life long. So also our Baptism is not an isolated act, but something that goes on in all our life. Being a Christian does not just mean that we were once baptized but that we live in the strength of our Baptism and again and again return to it" (Herman Sasse's We Confess: The Sacraments, pp. 45-46).

"Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand" -1 Corinthians 15:1 KJV (emphasis mine)

How is it that we return to our Baptism? In what place do we find such consolation and assurance that we still stand in our baptism and in the true faith?

In this regard, is anything more precious than that God has given to ordinary sinful men the ability to forgive sins in his name and stead? Confession and absolution is truly a return to our Baptism. If we believe with sincerity that when our Pastor says "I forgive you of all your sins" that it is not his words which are pronounced but the very words of God then we know what it is to return to our baptism.

Now, this is not the only place we experience this. What about those times when your perception tells you that you are alone, and it feels like the guilt of your sin is eating you alive? Your wounds stink and the smell of them is nauseous to you. You think to yourself, "Who would want to come near me?" Remember him who did not shrink from the leper but healed him. You are not alone. He is always with you.

Look to the cross. Meditate on our Lord Jesus Christ and his passion. Say...

"Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy upon me, a sinner."

Then remember those words which most of us were taught to memorize as children,

"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved."

Jesus Christ has given himself for you. The Lamb of God was not sent into the world for your condemnation but because he has literally loved you to death. He alone has paid the cost of your salvation. You must know that you are poor and have nothing of worth to offer before an infinitely righteous God, but remember this: to be a beggar at the foot of the Cross is better than to be adorned with fine linen and to be lavished with an abundance of earthly gifts.

You have been baptized into his death; therefore hope in his resurrection, but until then take up your cross and follow him.