Byron's Baptism Birthday

Dear Byron,

Happy Second Birthday! Yes, this past week you had your second birthday—your Baptismal birthday. A year ago, on May 15, 2011, you were baptized at St. Paul Lutheran Church, McAllen, TX. in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. On that day Jesus said to you that you are His most special and beloved child. He said that He took you with Him in His heart when He was beaten and crucified. You were with Him in all His suffering and pain. You went with Him when He knew His heavenly Father had forsaken and turned His back on Him. And you were with Him when He said, "It is finished!" and He gave His spirit into the hands of His Father and departed from His body.

Yes, Byron, you and I and Great-Grandma, your Mommy and Daddy, your Grandmas and Grandpas and all the millions and billions of people who are in this world or who ever have been—all of us were with Him on His cross and in His grave. We were with Him on that most glorious day when He rose again from the dead. We were with Him, alive, breathing, eating and celebrating. And we will never, ever be separated from Him now and forever. Because of Jesus we are alive—forever and ever and ever, even if our bodies die. For we will be with Him when He returns to raise us up in the new creation.

That's what He said to you, Byron, on May 15. That's what He wants you to remember when you grow older and start to realize that you have not and cannot always do what He wants you to do. He wants you to admit it to Him and then He wants you to remember that you are baptized. He wants you to hear Him say, "I forgive you. Go in peace and sin no more." That means that He really, really does forgive you.
Like the Apostle John said,

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. - 1Jo 1:9 ESV

Just as you are clean outside when Mommy or Daddy give you a bath, so Jesus tells you that you are clean inside and through and through in the water of His baptism, the baptism that you now share. Never forget this. It will sustain and keep you safe throughout your life on this earth. In fact, my dear Great-Grandson, you can come back to this special Word from Jesus each and every day of your life. Listen to these special words written by the Apostle Paul,

Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. For one who has died has been set free from sin. Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. For the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God. So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus. - Rom 6:3-11 ESV

That's way too much for you to put your little arms around at this time, but as you grow older you will want to come back to these words again and again. For now remember that in your baptism you were and are and always will be united and joined with Jesus in His death and His return from death to life. You belong to Jesus, so live for Jesus now! Nothing else is as important.

We love you,

GGPa