Mon, 09/26/16, "Day of Praise"
He said to them, "Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you became believers?" They replied, "No, we have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit." - Acts 19:2
So I'm walking across a parking lot, and I hear someone calling out. I wasn't wearing pastor clothes, so I didn't think they were calling to me about a pastoral matter, if they were even calling to me at all. They weren't calling me by name, but I hear them call out again, so I turned to look who it might be.
I saw this guy walking from an 18-wheeler, and he asks me if I know my way around this area. I said I did, so he asks me about an address as he pulls out a wad of paper with some scribbled directions.
I asked him if he had a gps. He said no. I might as well have said what I thought, which was something along the lines of "Are you kidding? In this day and age?"
But the Holy Spirit zapped me, so instead I said, "Let me buy you a biscuit, and then I'll lead you there."
That's what happened in today's Bible verse. Paul asked, "Do you have a gps?" And the people said, "No, we have not even heard that there is a gps." Then Paul almost said, "Are you kidding? In this day and age?" But the Holy Spirit zapped him, so instead he said, "Let me buy you a biscuit, and then I'll lead you there."
Well, that's not exactly what happened, but I'm sure that, to some extent, Saint Paul was surprised that they'd never heard of the Holy Spirit. But in actuality what he did was that he realized they needed what they didn't know about, so he just asked them another question, and then he took action to give them what they were missing out on.
That's what God wants us to do.
God wants us to recognize that we may, to some extent, be surprised by what people don't know in this day and age. Most importantly, I know for a fact that there are many Christians who don't know that we have peace with God through a simple trust in the person and work of Jesus Christ. Jesus himself, in Luke 16:14-18, says that there are people trying to get in good with God by trusting in their own goodness. Furthermore, the Bible recounts this mistaken trust in oneself or money or power or position or association with "the right people." God says that right trust is placed in God and God almighty alone through Jesus.
But when we discover that someone has misplaced trust (or has no real understanding of the blessings available to us from God through the Holy Spirit) instead of saying, "Are you kidding me?" God wants us to do what Paul did. God wants us to realize they need what they don't know about, and then take action to give them what they're missing out on.
Don't assume that everyone knows about God's goodness and Jesus and mercy and grace and forgiveness and peace and the power and guidance of the Holy Spirit.
Instead, let's meet people today as God has always met us and all people, namely, with the eagerness to make sure that people know about and claim all the blessings that God has lovingly prepared and freely offered to us, his children, who sorely need them in order for us to have the abundant life that God desires for all his children!
Praise God!
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