THE PATH MADE PLAIN

Salvation is never presented in Scripture as a maze for the spiritually clever. Christ has cleared the path before us with a mercy so bright that even the weary and the broken can find their way home. He does not save through riddles or shadows. He saves through Himself. And when a sinner looks to the crucified and risen Lord and bows the heart in faith, something holy happens that no human hand can manufacture. Christ receives the one who trusts Him.

The Holy Spirit is never earned by spiritual performance nor dispensed like a religious commodity. He rests upon the heart that comes to Jesus with a faith willing to obey. He fills the life that bends low at the feet of the Redeemer. The Spirit falls where faith becomes surrender. He meets the believer in that quiet place where trust ceases to be a word and becomes a walk. It is there that grace breathes life into the soul, lifting us into the newness Christ promised.

And baptism, so often misunderstood, did not arise from committees or councils. It began with the voice of the risen Christ on a mountain in Galilee. With the wind of resurrection still in the air, He declared His authority over heaven and earth and commanded His people to be plunged into His name. In baptism we are carried into His death, His burial, and His rising again. This is not ritual but union. Not ceremony but confession. Not a human idea but a divine summons from the King Himself.

Christian baptism exists because Jesus speaks and the church obeys. It is the response of a heart captivated by grace and hungry for holiness. It is faith stepping into the water and finding Christ already there. And when the believer rises from that sacred moment, dripping with the promise of God, the Spirit-filled journey begins. The path is still plain, and the Shepherd still leads, calling us ever deeper into the life that only He can give.

BDD