Back to the Basics- Baptism

     Jesus Christ taught us in the New Testament, "Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God." (John 3:3-5) In this post I am going to focus on being "born of water." To be 'born of water' is to be baptized. Baptism is a ceremony in which you are "buried in the water" (only for a quick second) and then you come out of the water. Baptism serves as a symbol of your old life passing away and being "born again" as a follower of Jesus Christ. An important aspect of baptism is that it must be performed by the proper priesthood authority (3 Nephi 11:21). In a sense, the authority is like having God's permission to do something in his name. Baptism is also the first covenant, or promise, that you make to your Heavenly Father. In this covenant, you promise to do three things:
1. Be willing to take Christ's name upon you.
2. Always remember Jesus Christ.
3. Keep his commandments.
The cool thing about making a promise to God is that when we keep our end of it, he will ALWAYS keep his. When we are baptized we promise to do our part (the 3 things listed above), and in return our Heavenly Father promises us certain things as well:
1. We are washed clean of our sins! It's literally like having a clean slate.
2. We can have the Holy Ghost (aka Holy Spirit) to be with us always. (I'll talk more about this in the next post.)
     So baptism is the first step you make in following Christ. It shows your willingness to be obedient and follow God's commandments and in return it brings great blessings into your life. Imagine being forgiven for all of your sins and anything bad you have done. That is the power of following Jesus Christ. Take that step of faith and follow him by being baptized by someone holding the proper priesthood authority authority. I promise it will be the first step you take to finding true happiness in this life.
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