When a person is baptised, whether as an infant or an adult, it is as if God gives to them a ring.
It is a ring which tells me that God loves me and that I belong to Jesus.
While I wear the ring, the church sees me as a fellow brother and sister.
While I know what the ring means, I will cherish it. When I’ve messed up badly and wonder if God loves me or whether I truly belong to Jesus, I will look at my ring and I will be reminded of the love of God and that I belong to Jesus.
But when I forget what the ring means, or when I choose to deliberately walk away from the one who gave it to me, there will come a time when I will take the ring off my finger and throw it away. And in throwing it away I will be throwing away the most precious thing that God could possibly give us in this world.
There are many people who have been baptised, who are wearing this ring, but because they have not been brought up within the family of the church, they have never known or forgotten what the ring means. And there may be some of us here, who have been baptised, who have been given the ring, but who for this reason are tempted to take it off and to throw it away. Please don’t. Find out what it means.
And there may be some of you here who are beginning to realize that there is a God, who loves you, and you want to respond by giving your life to Jesus. Maybe it is time for you to find out a little bit about what it means to be baptised, to allow God to put his ring on your finger.