Recently I taught Sunday School about the baptism of Christ. The lesson included Matthew 4, which discussed Christ's temptations. I never got to that point in the lesson.
We spent a lot of time talking about baptism and why it was important for Christ to be baptized and why it is important for us. We spent a lot of time in 2 Nephi 31. I tried to emphasize that baptism is the gate that puts us on the straight and narrow path.
Too often, I believe, in our Church we put too much emphasis on the living a life of good works to take us back home. We're almost afraid that if we talk too much about being saved by grace we'll somehow start slacking off. When in reality, those who are truly converted do not slack off. They become more and more like God. They desire to do his will, not revel in sin. In our zeal to realize the "after all we can do" part, we often tend to deny the atonement! We are too busy trying to save ourselves and being upset because we're not perfect.
We turned to Moroni 10:32-33 and read about perfection. We need to come to Christ and be perfected in him--not in ourselves, but in him! And when we make that covenant with him through baptism, his grace is sufficient for us. All we need to do as we read in 2 Nephi 31 is to stay faithful. We just need to stay in the covenant. Then we can become baptized by fire and by the Holy Ghost. What a beautiful, merciful plan!
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