Today your family will learn about 2 important activities God gave us to symbolize the good news gospel message, baptism and communion. Start the day off by reviewing what you have been learning together over the past 4 days. 

 

Pray

 

After reviewing what you’ve learned, you will have an opportunity to pray as a family, thanking God for salvation. If today is the first time your children choose to put their trust in Jesus then today will be the day they become born again. This is very exciting. If your child does not express an eagerness to pray or trust in Jesus then that may be hard for you to hear, but in order to truly be saved your child must honestly admit that they both need and want Jesus. It’s important that we don’t push or manipulate our children to choose Jesus, but that they choose Jesus willingly. That said, God wants your child to have eternal life and the prayers of a believing parent are powerful. Try to gently address any intellectual barriers they may have, and then pray that God would open their spiritual eyes, and then trust God to work in your child’s heart over the rest of the devotional. You can always ask them again later if they are ready to trust in Jesus and pray to him.

 

Here is a good example of a prayer you can lead your family in.

 

“Lord God, thank you for loving me. Thank you for giving your son Jesus to die for my sins. Jesus, I admit that I am a sinner. I admit that I deserve to be punished. Thank you for dying for my sins so that I wouldn't have to, and thank you for coming back from the dead. You are powerful. Right now I put my trust in you to be my saviour, and I will follow you for the rest of my life. In your name I pray, amen.”

 

Baptism

 

After Jesus came back from the dead he appeared to over 500 people, he then gathered his disciples and instructed them to go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the father, the son, and the Holy Spirit. Baptism is an activity where a person is immersed under water, and then lifted back up. What this symbolizes is that our sinful identity has been buried with Jesus because of his death, and we have become new holy people because of his resurrection. Though we haven't yet been raised from the dead physically, we have been raised from the dead spiritually, and now we follow Jesus and belong to him. Baptism is a public profession that we belong to Jesus, similar to how a wedding is partly a public profession that two people now belong to each other. The wedding ceremony doesn't make you married, and baptism doesn't make you a Christian, but they both symbolize the commitment you have made. Jesus instructed every one of his followers to be baptized. Remember, a follower of Jesus is someone who is born again, meaning they no longer attempt to save themself, but rather they trust Jesus 100% to be their saviour. There are differing views on whether children should be baptized, however the Bible does not discourage little children from coming to Jesus, and therefore I think we should be cautious in prohibiting them from being baptised. The Bible teaches that a born again follower of Jesus expresses remorse for sin, a love for God, and an eagerness to obey Christ’s commandments, one of which was to be baptised. If you are confident that your child is a born again follower of Jesus, then I believe you can confidently welcome them to be baptised.

 

Communion

 

A second activity that Jesus gave his followers is communion. A number of times the Bible draws some clear connections between physical food and spiritual life. Just as our body is dependent on daily nourishment to live, our soul is dependent on spiritual nourishment to thrive. Jesus called himself the bread of life and the living water, because knowing and obeying him nourishes our soul. It's no coincidence then that Jesus gave us the activity of communion to regularly remember his death through ingesting food and drink. Communion, like baptism, is a physical activity that symbolizes a great spiritual reality. By eating a bit of bread we remember that the body of Jesus was broken for us, and by drinking wine or grape juice we remember that his blood was shed as the sacrifice for our sins. Jesus didn't say how often we should take communion, but only that followers of Jesus should make it a continual practice as a means of remembering him. If you feel comfortable taking communion in your home, consider doing so as a family while you remember what Jesus did on our behalf. The Bible teaches that communion should only be taken by Christians in a reverent manner, so if one of your family members is not yet a Christian I would not encourage them to take communion.

 

May God richly bless your family today as together you learn about symbolism, baptism, and communion.