Pride and Obedience

I’m somewhere between completely impulsive and a total procrastinator. Actually, I’m nowhere between – I’m 100% one or the other, depending on the circumstance.

If I get a great idea, I rarely bother to think it through – I jump in, head first, and don’t stop until I inevitably screw something up and have to start over.

Give me an “assignment”, however, and I’ll put it off until the very last minute. And then 3 days later, I’ll start on it.

And then there are those occasional situations where I actually really want to do something, but for whatever reason – either I get busy, get distracted, or things just get in the way – it gets put off. And sometimes it gets put off for so long that I decide its time has passed, it’s just too late, and I write it off.

That’s where I found myself when I looked back on the years I’d spent as a believer without having been baptized.

I had decided it was just too late. Most people jump into baptism shortly after committing their lives to Christ. It feels like a natural transition from an old life into a new one.

But not me. I didn’t even have a church when I committed my life to Christ, so I wouldn’t even have known how to go about getting baptized. Besides, it wasn’t really a very high priority to me at the time – I’d been baptized as a baby, so I figured if it was something God wanted me to do, I could consider myself “grandfathered” in.

Eventually I found a church. And a church family. And over time, I became involved in different areas of ministry.

When God started nudging me toward baptism, I graciously told Him thanks, but no thanks.

I mean, what would people think if they knew I’d spent all that time as a believer not having been baptized? What would they think if they realized the woman who taught their bible study class last semester hadn’t even been baptized?

What would people think??

(And also, who wants to spend two hours getting ready for church in the morning, putting on makeup and blow drying and straightening hair, just to be dunked in a pool of water and have to start all over again?!)

But God being God, He rarely lets us get away with excuses that easily. And He’s not a big fan of pride. (Trust me on that one, he reminds me of that more often than I’d like to admit!)

Eventually, He convinced me I needed to do it, and He did so through my 8 year old.

It reminded me a little of the times when you’re a kid and you send the youngest, cutest, most innocent sister to ask mom if you can all go out for ice cream – because you know, while she would have no problem saying no to you, that sweet baby is hard to turn down!

Well, my daughter asked me if I’d ever been baptized. And then she asked me if we could get baptized together.

And what mom in her right mind could say no to that?!

But I’d be lying if I said I was instantly excited about it. In fact, I’ve had to spend a lot of time in prayer about it – mostly asking God to simply help me get over my own stupid pride.

And finally tomorrow, she and I will be baptized together.

Sure, we know a lot of people in the church… but we won’t have pews full of family to stand and support us like many people do. And there may even be people there who do think the very things I was afraid they would think.

But God has shown me that that’s ok.

My prayer has finally turned from asking God to help me get over my pride, to asking God to use this opportunity to move the hearts of people who may feel the same pride I felt. To show people it's never too late to be obedient to what God asks us to, even if we're a little bit afraid of what others might think.

And also that He’d give me just a tiny bit of grace and not let my mascara run…