There’s a lot of chatter about what is and what is not important in the Christian life. Often, the discussion goes something like this:
“Do you think it’s important to [fill in the blank] go to church, take communion, have devotions?”
“Well, it’s not essential for your salvation, so it’s not critical to the Christian life.”
The idea is that if the issue is essential to salvation, it’s important. If it’s not, it’s second-tier. It might be important, but it’s not that important.
It’s true that some things are more important than other things in the Bible (justification by faith is more important than whether Jesus preached to people or angels in I Peter 3, for instance). But that doesn’t mean things like baptism, eternal security, submission to the will of God, etc. are not important, or as some people put it, “non-essentials.” Just because you can get to heaven without being baptized doesn’t mean you don’t have to be baptized. It’s a command in Scripture, and God’s commands are important. Let’s be careful that we don’t diminish the clear instruction of God’s Word by calling it “non-essential.” God thought it was important or He wouldn’t have told us.