Saturday, February 06, 2010 in Christian Living & Spiritual Disciplines

Total Immersion

Immersion versus sprinkling

“Practice these things, immerse yourself in them, so that all may see your progress. ” (1 Ti 4:15)

Scripture calls us to not only practice certain things, but to immerse ourself in them. The ESV says “immerse”, the NAS says “be absorbed”, the KJV says “give thyself wholly”. The exhortation is for us to be intensely dedicated to these things. Our Christianity should not be something that is a sprinkling of Christianity, sparsely mixed into the busyness of our week. Our Christianity should not be a side-thing we do on Sunday’s or in the moments when we have a time to do a special devotion. Our lives should be totally immersed with our spirituality.

Our lives are like a sponge. The material of our lives, with all the activities, people and relationship, are like the material of a sponge. There is nothing inherently wrong with the material of the sponge, and in the same manner, there is nothing inherently wrong with the material of our lives (I’m referring to the common person doing common activities, not the career or closet criminal).  The difference is the liquid that fills the spaces of our lives. Is it filled with earthly thoughts and desires, or is it filled with thoughts that are good and pure and from above?

Immersed Prayer

Should we be simply setting aside time in the morning or evening for prayer? No, Scripture says, “pray without ceasing” (1 Thess 5:17). Our prayer live, our conversation with God, should be something that carries throughout the day, continuously and simultaneously to the events in our lives.

As we keep a horizontal relationship with those around us, we should be keeping the vertical relationship with our God above. God is, after all, present in every moment and everywhere we go. Imagine if he was a real person walking beside you all day.  Would you talk with him in a more continual manner throughout the day, or would you ignore Him for most of the day and talk to Him when you had a convenient break?

Immersed children

For parents, are you immersing your children with instruction about God? Are you helping them to become immersed in the Christian life, or are they immersed in toys and television and childish things? It is good for children to run around and play, but Scripture also calls parents to the following:

“You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise” (Deut 6:7).

God is calling us to teach our children continually and to integrate His Word into our daily living. Would it be wrong to go three minutes, five minutes, or half-an-hour without teaching our children? Perhaps no, and perhaps yes. If those five minutes involved a teachable moment, then perhaps yes, it was not good to pass it up. Parents need to have an awareness of those moments that are teachable and be ready to teach our children.

Immersed Thought

How is your thought life? Do you dwell on things that make you anxious? Do you dwell on ways to make your life better. Do your thoughts relate more to worldly things rather than spiritual things? Our thoughts should be immersed with good and godly things.

“Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, let your mind dwell on these things.” (Phi 4:8 NAS)

Don’t let thoughts just fly through your mind without concern. Next time your mind is dwelling on something, see if it is something that is good, pure, lovely, and excellent, worthy of praise. If it is not, then find something good to praise God for, or find something good to pray to God for. Perhaps the start is to simply pray that your mind would stop dwelling on things it shouldn’t.

Immersed goals

Do you look at your life and goals from a Christian perspective. Do you consider yourself a person who’s purpose is that in “whatever you do” you “do all to the glory of God” (1Co 10:31)?

I could easily take up hobbies and passions that don’t fit into a lifestyle that desires to glorify God. I used to love road biking and mountain biking. I could have easily insisted on continuing in investing countless hours riding and training. However, it just doesn’t fit my duties as a father to my children, a husband to my wife and a brother-in-Christ to my fellow Christian. And time consuming hobbies leave zero time for me to pursue theological and biblical studies.

Christians should not have the goals of lifelong luxury and comfort. Our goals should include training ourselves, our families, and younger Christians towards spiritual maturity. Our goals should include evangelism, sharing the gospel, and loving our enemies.

Concluding Remarks

The immersed life is not something that we should consider as one more thing to add to our to-do list. If you are considering this as a chore, then you are looking at it from a legalistic, lawful mind-set, for “we are released from the law, having died to that which held us captive, so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit and not in the old way of the written code” (Rom 7:6). Immersing our lives is synonymous with the presenting our bodies as living sacrifices (Rom 12:1), and by doing this, we are“transformed by the renewing of our mind” (Rom 12:2). It is also tightly related to the reality of what has happened to us in Christ:

“For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily,  and you have been filled in him, who is the head of all rule and authority.  In him also you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ,  having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the powerful working of God, who raised him from the dead” (Col 2:9-12).

We have been “buried with him in baptism”. The old self that was dead in trespasses and sin is now alive, or immersed in Christ and forgiven. Therefore:

“If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.  Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth.  For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. (Col 3:1-3)

So, God has immersed our sins in Christ, and we should therefore immerse our lives with Christ, and immerse our lives on the things above.

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