Where is your desire?

Last Sunday, I had the pleasure of being involved in a baptismal service which included a very special six year old who calls me Nana Sharon. Although he may not have my DNA, in every way that counts, I AM his Nana and this very special relationship with him and his brother means more to me than I can tell you.

After the service, my husband and I were talking about the fact that when we have gone on mission trips with college students, there has been a significant amount of young people who have been re-baptized on these trips stating that they did it when they were a child but didn't really know what it meant. Most of the 26 people baptized last Sunday were around the ages of five or six and we discussed the level of understanding these precious babies would have about this decision. Here was our conclusion and why.

A number of years ago, our daughter, who is mentally challenged, began to talk about being baptized. Understand that she is on about a two year old mental level and communicates mostly with one or two word sentences so when she started saying "my turn" and "'-tize", we pretty much treated it as just another one of her obsessions. We ignored it for about two years until she began to get almost frantic about it. She would stand in front of the baptistry after church services, point and say, "my turn." The pastor finally came to us and suggested that we go ahead and allow her to be baptized. He convinced us that in whatever capacity she was able to understand, she had the desire to do something that she saw as important. We agreed and have never regretted the decision.

I told that story to explain why I feel that desire is one of the most important components in our Christian walk. Does a young child fully understand what it means to ask Jesus to be Lord of their life? Probably not but then neither do I sometimes. Do they have a legitimate desire to live fully for Christ? I believe that to be absolutely true. Nobody is perfect but if we sincerely desire to be Christ-like, I truly believe God will honor our efforts, no matter how young, old or mentally capable we are.

So the question is: Where is your desire? Do you desire to be the best you can be for your Savior? Then take comfort in knowing that God will take our desires and turn them in to something wonderful.