July is a month of celebrations in my family. My wife, my mother and my oldest daughter all have birthdays in July. I also have one son-in-law, two granddaughters and one grandson with July birthdays. On top of that, two of my daughters decided to get married in July, so add a couple of anniversaries in there.

Along with all those celebrations, I have another cause for celebration in the month of July: my baptismal birthday. I thought of that yesterday because August 8 is Cheryl’s baptism birthday. On an July Sunday a long time ago, with water and the words “In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit” I was baptized. The same thing happened to Cheryl just over a month later. God was at work.

As baptized children of God, we need to remember that is who we are and what we are. One way to do that is to remember your “born-again” date. Do you know the date on which you were born again? Everyone can recall his or her birthday – why not your “born-again” date, your Baptismal birthday? Is it that we don’t often enough consider and remember the tremendous blessings that our God gives us through Baptism?

Remembering the day you were baptized is not as important as remembering that you ARE baptized. Baptism lets you share in Jesus’ death, which is a good thing. Paul wrote about this in Romans 6: We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death. That is good because it means we share in what happened when Jesus died. He did it all. Everything needed to pay for sin. That is what it meant when He cried out from the cross, It is finished! The punishment of our sins, our evil, was suffered by Jesus when He died and was buried on Good Friday. Baptism is a way that God says your sins were buried with Jesus. Because of what Jesus did in your place, you are forgiven. Your sins are dead and buried, gone through God’s forgiveness. And that is good.

But that is not all. Paul continues: If we have been united with him like this in his death, we will certainly also be united with him in his resurrection. Baptism is God at work, God doing His thing. Through water and God’s Word of promise, you share not only in the death of Jesus, but also in the promise of the resurrection. Christ’s victory over death is your victory as well. This is powerful stuff. Remember who you are.

How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! 1 John 3:1

By the way, Baptism does not give you anything different than what you get through faith in Jesus, namely forgiveness and salvation.  It is simply an extra added assurance of those things that God provides for His followers. And I thank God for His blessing that I received in Baptism.

Remember your Baptism. Remember who you are. It is cause for celebration.