Baptism | Faith | Justification | Salvation | Sin

BRANDED
Remember the old Western movies? A frequent scene was where the cowboys round up some cattle. The animals are first chased and lassoed — then they are held down and branded. The hot branding iron is applied and the identifying mark is seared into its hide. From then on, even though the animal might wander off, the distinctive brand on its side will indicate to whom it rightly belongs — it belongs to its owner. That is what Baptism does for us: it brands us, it marks us — it binds us to Christ. It tells aIl the world that we are Christians, that we belong to Christ. CK