1.6 From Beloved Creature to Beloved Daughter

Why You Should Get Baptized

“No, I am not baptized,” or “I won’t baptize my child - why?”, are phrases you hear everywhere nowadays. What was once typical is now often done only because grandma insists or because you want to receive gifts for your kid, honestly.

For a long time I thought the same: “Oh please, it is just a tradition.” 
Until I started digging deeper into my faith and took the teachings of the Church a bit more seriously.

And let’s be honest:  Why do we say “just” a tradition? Traditions are way more powerful than we give them credit for. They create belonging even across generations and hold families and countries together. But this particular tradition? It reveals a deeper truth and gives us more than we might expect.
Stay with me, we are going on a little adventure.

Imagine the Church

as a beautiful house.

The Door into the House 

To get into a house, you usually go through the door. I mean—sure—you could climb in through the window, but that’s less convenient and more for a dramatic police-involved scene.

So imagine the Church is a house. You want to enter because you’ve realized God exists and you want a relationship with Him. And while praying in the woods is nice and aesthetic, Christianity is not a solo-backpack tour. Community is essential and the church gives you sacraments - “signs of grace that reveal a deeper reality to us” (USCCB).

Good news:
The door to the Church—and to all the other sacraments—is baptism (Evangelii Gaudium).

So let’s see what happens when you walk through it.

Jesus Went First 

I invite you to grab your Bible, open Mark 1:9 and read how Jesus gets baptized. 

Now, obviously, He didn’t need baptism. But He did it for us. He stepped into our shoes because He always goes ahead to show the way (read more: CCC, 536).

As Evangelii Gaudium reminds us, our great dignity comes from baptism—and it’s available to everyone.

A little child

getting baptized.

What Actually Happens in Baptism

When you’re baptized…

1. It’s like your whole body gets washed clean—100% deep clean.
   (Confession later is like washing your feet when they get dirty… because they will.)

2. You go from beloved creature to beloved daughter.
   This is a big glow-up.

3. You are welcomed into the Father’s house and start sharing in divine life.

4. You receive the Holy Spirit and His gifts permanently (no return policy).

5. You enter the Christian community—the official initiation ceremony.

6. You are sent on a mission—because yes, you are now a missionary disciple
   (Evangelii Gaudium 120).

7. You begin your pathway to salvation (Mark 16:16, John 3:5, CCC 1257).

That is a lot already!

Who You Become

To sum it up: After stepping through the doors into that beautiful house, you are:

• Daughter of God (1 John 3:1)

• Sister of Christ (Matthew 28:10)

• Temple of the Holy Spirit (1 Cor 6:19)

• Heir of Heaven (Titus 3:7)
  
  

Pretty solid identity upgrade, if you ask me.

The freedom

as a child of God.

A New Freedom 

Do you want to be free?

Do you want to be saved? 

Get baptized.
It brings you under the dominion of God or to put it more mildly: under His loving authority.

In baptism, we die with Him (symbolically!) and rise with Him. 
It is nothing you can see.
It is not like something you get delivered in a package by Amazon.

But it is real. 
You can’t see or touch love either. But does it mean it doesn’t exist?

So let’s open our eyes to the deeper realities around us. 
Let’s finally start to see! 

Lord, please open our hearts and our eyes.