Photo by Marcos Paulo Prado on Unsplash
The candidate trusts as she is plunged into the commitment of lordship. Death and burial are only the beginning; rising from the waters is a picture of new life.
Paradoxical Gain — “For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul?” (Matthew 16:25-26a ESV) What am I clinging to that might actually be holding me back from real life?
Symbolic Burial — “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.” (Romans 6:4 ESV) What does it mean to leave an old way of living behind and step into something new?
Spiritual Move: Surrender — Release control of your day by taking up your cross as an act of radical trust. “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.” (Luke 9:23 ESV)