John 7:37-38
37 On the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. 38 “He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.”
Philippians 3:8
8 Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ
The Evangelicals and Baptists make a mistake when they criticize Lutherans for looking back upon our baptism as a source of comfort; for surely in baptism we find the promise of the Lord and the promises of the Lord wherever they are found are our only sources of comfort. Lutherans however make a mistake when they look “back” upon their baptism. To every Christian whatever is past is past and does not matter, except that one great past at the foot of which we weep in both sorrow and joy. Neither is the future of any more importance than the past except that one great future for which we wait and for which we endure. All other pasts and all other futures are useless to us they have no bearing upon us, they belong to the Lord. What matters is right now. What matters is the present. The fact that I was baptized as an act in the past does not matter, the fact that I am baptized as a present state not or mind or emotion but of the ever abiding grace of God is everything. The fact that right now at this moment the promise of the forgiveness of sins is mine through Christ is above all the glory of earth. That fact that at this instant Christ is with me by my side to comfort in every distress and protect from every evil, I need nothing beyond on this. The past is but an orchard from which we may pick succulent fruit for the present. Fruit neither of our deeds nor of our workings but the fruit of the promises of God which hang on trees laden with their burden, the trees of Calvary and Eden, of His Word and of Baptism and Communion. The future is but a large hill blocking our sight from the one thing we desire and for which we wait. Past and Future belong to Him who reigns and He will do with them as He pleases. This is what He pleases: that my past He has washed away with His own blood, my future He has set guards all around that I might be kept by the power of His Holy Word until the day He comes again. If I regard my past I drown in my own sin, If I consider my future I despair in my weakness but now, here, right at this moment I have all the promises of God. My hands, my basket, my treasure room is full of this fruit and no other, where is there room to consider, to hold, to keep track of my own deeds they are as pale dead fruit, they are as of nothing. Wherever I find room I will fill it with God’s fruit, with Christ’s deeds, with His promises. I treasure every one. I hold each close to me. I examine it with great wonder and gaze into its depth. It sparkles and glows with the glory of He who made it. Many there are who criticize our focus on theology, our commitment to studying and teaching not just the shallow but the deep things of the word. But what is theology and exegesis other than the deep fervent treasuring, the minute examination of each and every one of these gifts. I hold it up in the light of the Sun to see what is this thing that the Lord of all has given to me, and I share its beauty with my neighbor. We are criticized for not being relevant, I have already told you I gave up the dead fruit of this world in order to have more room to store up the treasures of God, therefore I know already that I am not relevant to the people of this world. Their concerns are not mine. Their troubles are of no concern to me. Their treasure is useless to me. My storehouse is full of diamonds from heaven. Having such treasures to display will I brag and speak about a tattered rug or a faded pair of Jeans? Such are the greatest treasures of this world. Let the world speak of those things that are relevant, of past glories, or future kingdoms, right now, here, and forevermore I am Christ and He is mine, by the mercy of His grace, by the love of His blood, and by the great power of His Word which is His solemn promise. For the promise of He who spoke is true and the power of that promise is able to bind us to Him with the strength that created all things.
For He Himself has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” – Hebrews 13:5