B is for Baptism

Baptism. It's a word that probably most of us are familiar with. It is derived "from a Greek word meaning to 'dip' or 'immerse'" (Bible Dictionary Baptism). This means we must be fully immersed or covered in water and then come back up. It is one of the first covenants, or promises, that we make with our Heavenly Father. (see Articles of Faith 1:4)

The covenant that we make with God is that we will first, take upon us the name of Christ, second always to remember Him, and third to keep His commandments (Moroni 4:3 and Moroni 5:2). For better understanding, let's break it down into those three different parts.



1.) Taking Upon us the Name of Christ

Taking Christ's name upon us means that we heed the counsel He gave us: "what manner of men ought ye to be? Verily I say unto you, even as I am" (3 Nephi 27:27). 
It means we must "to stand as witnesses of God at all times and in all things, and in all places" (Mosiah 18:9).
It means stopping to think "what would Jesus do?" as cheesy as that sounds.
Think about your last name, how people associate you with it. It's a name that ties you to the people you love most, your family. You want to do your best to uphold the family name so that only great things are associated with your last name and your family's name. Taking upon us the name of Christ is like having the same last name as Jesus. You don't want to do anything that would disrespect or dishonor His name.

2.) Always Remember Him

This one just seems like a no-brainer to me. How do you repay someone who has saved you in every sense of the word? Remember Him, always remember Him. Now when I think about that phrase, my thoughts turn to one of my favorite movies, "The Lion King". Simba has lost himself and he runs into the wise, old, and slightly crazy monkey Rafiki who shows him that his father lives in him. There is then some "peculiar weather" occurs and we see and hear Mufasa say:

"Simba, you have forgotten me...you have forgotten yourself and so have forgotten me...Remember who you are, you are my son...remember"

Part of remembering our Savior is remembering who we are, children of God. We should act as children of God would. Remembering that helps us to remember the Only Begotten of the Father.

3.) Keep His Commandments

Kind of self-explanatory right?. We promise to obey that which our Heavenly Father asks of us. Some things may be harder to obey than others and those struggling points are different for each of us. We're not expected to be perfect but we are expected to do our best.


Now, that may seem like a lot that is expected of us, but our loving Heavenly Father also gives us three grand promises in return for the three promises we make to Him (that's the way covenants work, a two-way promise with God):

1.) He promises for His Spirit to always be with us. 
To quote The Lion King again, "He lives in you, He lives in me...in your reflection, He lives in you!" As we allow Christ to enter into our hearts and we remain worthy, we can always have Christ's Spirit to dwell with us always through baptism. The Spirit, also known as the Holy Ghost, has many roles "The Holy Ghost has a sanctifying, cleansing effect upon us. The Holy Ghost testifies of Christ and helps us recognize the truth. He provides spiritual strength and helps us do what is right. He comforts us during times of trial or sorrow. He warns us of spiritual or physical danger. The Holy Ghost provides the power by which we teach and learn. The gift of the Holy Ghost is one of our Heavenly Father’s most precious gifts. Through the power of the Holy Ghost we can feel God’s love and direction for us. This gift is a foretaste of eternal joy and a promise of eternal life." (Preach My Gospel Chapter 3 Lesson 3: Gift of the Holy Ghost)

2.) He promises to forgive us of our sins. Who doesn't want that? When we are baptized our sins are washed away. By using the atonement, and continually repenting and doing our best to keep the commandments, we are able to continually be forgiven of wrong doings, so long as we have sincere desire to change.
3.) We are promised that we will be born again in Christ. "And now, because of the covenant which ye have made ye shall be called the children of Christ, his sons, and his daughters; for behold, this day he hath spiritually begotten you; for ye say that your hearts are changed through faith on his name; therefore, ye are born of him and have become his sons and his daughters" (Mosiah 5:7). This also goes back to taking Christ's name upon us. We get to share a name with Christ. What a blessing!


So that being said, why does it all matter? Well to get straight to the point, "Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit , he cannot enter into the kingdom of God"(John 3:5). It is necessary to enter the kingdom of God, IT'S A BIG DEAL!!!
Baptism is also the first ordinance of Christ's restored gospel (Articles of Faith 1:4) and is also essential for membership in Christ's restored gospel. 
It is the source of all blessings. Everything good and wonderful in my life can be traced back to my willingness to follow the example of my Savior and be baptized by someone holding the priesthood authority of God.
It is one of the best decisions a person can make in life and will bring you closer to your Savior than you ever thought was possible.