In our worship service on the Sunday morning before Thanksgiving, we gave special emphasis to thanking God for our blessings. And one of the blessings for which we were thankful was the baptism of John Charles Cobb. He had family members from all over who came for his baptism. It was a special day as he demonstrated his commitment to Christ by his baptism.
I was not sure that we would pull it off. Back in October, John Charles made his profession of faith at the end of our morning worship service. After the benediction, our people came by to greet him and his family and to let him know how proud they were of him. When the final person had come through the line, I said to Jimmy and Carrie, “When would you like for us to have the baptism?†John Charles was standing listening to this, and evidently the thought of his being baptized made him a little nervous. As we discussed the matter, he tapped me on the leg to interrupt. I looked down at him and he said, “Could I wait to be baptized until I know more about God?â€
Now what is your response going to be to a question like that? I sensed that he might be a little nervous about facing something like baptism, but how could you be critical of a boy who wants to know more about God? So, I responded, “Of course we can wait until you know more about God.†We didn’t say exactly how much he had to know, but we agreed to wait a little, and I made a renewed commitment to try to teach him as much about God as I possibly could.
You have to admire a boy who wants to know more about God. When you really think about it, there is so much about God that we need to know, and our knowledge of Him is awfully small. One of the things that all of us ought to have as we begin the journey of the Christian life is a hunger to know more about Him.
Unfortunately, sometimes we have little of that hunger. Too often we suffer from spiritual anorexia—a loss of appetite for God. As a result of this spiritual anorexia, we have learned precious little about Him.
Edwin Ray Teale told about a cousin of his who once made a resolution to read the Encyclopedia Brittanica from end to end. Unfortunately, he did not follow through on this resolution. In fact, he only got through the “D†volume. Always after that, Teale said, his cousin was amazingly learned in conversation, as long as the topic under discussion began with the letters A, B, C, or D.
Unfortunately, our knowledge of God is often partial and incomplete. What we need is to develop a fresh hunger to know more about Him.
By Thanksgiving, John Charles was ready to go with his baptism. It was a wonderful experience. I’m not sure exactly how much he knows about God, but he knows enough to be saved. And he has begun an exciting journey that will last all of his life—a journey of discovery on the road to learning more about God.
