One of my favorite stories from the Bible occurs in the book of Acts chapter 8. In that passage, the apostle Phillip meets a man, an Ethiopian eunuch who worked directly for the queen of Ethiopia. He is travelling through the dessert catching up on some light reading from the scrolls of the prophet Isaiah when he meets Phillip on his journey. The eunuch had one problem. He didn't understand what he was reading, and so Phillip begins to help him by explaining the writings of Isaiah. As Phillip shared the meaning of these Old Testament prophecies, all the lights came on for the Eunuch, and he realized that Jesus was the fulfillment of those prophecies. As they rode on, they came upon a body of water, and the Eunuch immediately says, "Here is water; what hinders me from being baptized?" So Phillip immediately took him to the water and baptized him.
So many times we put off important decisions, don't we? The Bible says in the gospel of Mark, that he who believes and is baptized will be saved. There something critical about the combination of belief and action. Without a doubt baptism declares publicly that I'm choosing to live for Jesus Christ, but it also spiritually gives us an experience that washes our sin, frees us from our past, and allows us to rise to a new life in Christ. So when someone calls me and says, "Will you baptize me, and will you do it today?" I'm thankful that as a church we are always prepared for those moments when people decide that now is the time, today is the day, I'm ready to see Jesus do something in my life.
Maybe it's not baptism for you. You've done that, you've had your experience with Christ. But perhaps Jesus is calling you to something more, something deeper, perhaps a higher level of commitment. And as of now you've held Him at an arms length procrastinating your decision to pursue something more. My questions to you is the same as the Eunuch's, "Here's water, what hinders you?" Here is the well spring of opportunity, what hinders you from jumping in with both feet. The time is now. Write that book. Start that ministry. Begin serving others each week. Join a Dream Team. Teach a Bible Study. Lead a Small Group. Share your testimony. Send that message. Pray for someone who's hurting. Don't hesitate. Become all that God wants you to be and pursue God's best for you today. If God has called you to it, He has also equipped you to accomplish it. Now's the time.
Whatever occurred to bring you to the crossroads you stand at right now, God allowed it to bring you to a place of decision. Consider this an opportunity to move forward and become the best version of yourself - the one that God had planned for you from the very beginning. Go ahead, step into the water. You never know the ripple effect of one decision, and how many will be touched because you chose to acknowledge that here is water, there are no more excuses, let's do this NOW.
