Appeal

"Baptism now saves you, an appeal to God, through Jesus Christ's resurrection," 1 Peter 3:21.

Lots and lots of ink about this verse wasted about how baptism does not save you. Sure, getting affused, sprinkled, plunged in a baptismal font doesn't save you. Obviously. People splash and dunk in rivers, lakes, pools, oceans all the time. And, an occasional preacher's kid plunges into a batistery. Nobody ever got saved for those efforts. Not at all. Now, a mother nurses her baby. Nobody confuses who's giving life - it's the mom. (Duh!) But if the baby does not suckle ... The verse continues to say baptism does not save by washing dirt off your body. Pretty plain. It says, rather: it's an appeal to God. Saving baptismal waters result from a heart's desperate plea for mercy. A cry for mercy through Jesus' work. A call on the name of the Lord. For mercy.

We will not confuse God's merciful baptismal conditions with earning his mercy. Never! Today, with a brother or sister, we give thanks to God. To our plunging appeal through Jesus' resurrection: He saved us. Mercifully.