Even Jesus Entered Here

July 25, Morning Watch 6:15 am

Matthew 3:6; Romans 6:3–5
 
There’s something sobering here, something precise.
Righteousness isn’t a feeling. It’s an act, a way—a step through what God has set in place. In the Old Testament, it was keeping the law. In John’s time, it was the water. No shortcuts. No exceptions.
Even Jesus—especially Jesus—entered through the baptism John offered. Not as some divine exemption, but as someone modeling the way. A man. Willing to be seen. Willing to be submerged.
I keep circling that word: gateway.
Not ceremonial. Not decorative. A passage.
And if Jesus didn’t bypass it, why should I?
Why would I?
I think about what baptism meant then—and now.
Termination. Germination.
To be right with God means letting the old die, and letting something else break forth. Not just a cleansing, but a resurrection.
Not just a gesture, but a grafting.
Is my life showing this righteousness?
Not in the visible ways, maybe. But in the surrender?
In the willingness to be undone and redone?
I carry this question with me today:
What part of me still resists the gateway God has ordained—preferring my own version of righteousness instead?