At that time Jesus came from Nazareth in Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. Just as Jesus was coming up out of the water, he saw heaven being torn open and the Spirit descending on him like a dove. And a voice came from heaven: “You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.” Mark 1:9-11
Jesus set the example for us by being baptized in the Jordan River. This was the very river that the Israelites had crossed centuries prior. He showed that the true change does not come from being delivered from Jordan rivers of life. True transformation comes from leaving the past behind by burying it in the Jordan river and rising to the newness of life in Jesus. We have to let go of the past in order to fully walk into God’s purpose for us. We cannot hold on to the past and move forward in God’s purpose.
Some people spend years in counseling trying to reconcile their past. While counseling can be helpful, it cannot eradicate the past or explain it. The truth is that we cannot change the past. We can either continue fight the past, by imprisoned by the past, leave it behind by embracing our new life. Baptism is a spiritual act when we declare before heaven and earth that the our old nature is dead and buried, and we rise in the newness of life.
Have you been water baptized? Are there areas in your past that still have a hold on you? Are you willing to leave them in the Jordan and allow them to die, so you can rise to the newness of life and walk with the Lord in your new identity in Christ? The change manifests when we agree with what the Lord has already accomplished for us!
Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Philippians 3:13-14
Paul had mastered leaving things behind. He could not afford to hold on to the past. He had had a rich heritage that he could be proud of. His past was also full of carnal accomplishments, and it also included the memory of persecuting the people of God. Paul was able to accomplish God’s purpose in his life because he was able to put his past behind.
