The Holy Spirit promised

Through the Holy Spirit, the believers formerly under God’s wrath preached Christ in languages they didn’t know to the Jews who’d come to Jerusalem for the Day of Pentecost. Those Christ came to save were convicted of their sins, and they repented. The apostles didn’t have the power to absolve sins or save souls. Neither do we. We can’t grant salvation. We can witness and warn. We can pray and beseech.

I watch the news and read the stories, frustrated and confused. People who give little or nothing and demand so much. The bold fraud and hypocrisy. The dejection and heartbreak. The seemingly senseless violence. Victims of Muslim slavery. The murdered martyrs of the world. Convenience-based slaughter of unborn babies who feel the pain of death. Licentiousness and shamelessness. Not only can two men now legally call themselves married, and little boys and girls can “decide” they want to be the opposite sex (and we’re expected to go along with the farce), but uttering anything against this foolishness means you face harassment, loss of livelihood, adverse government action, and God knows what else to come.

What happened? How did America turn out like this? It’s like living in an episode of The Twilight Zone. Maybe I’ll wake up and realize I’m in a laboratory somewhere, part of an experiment to measure how much degeneracy and how many nonsensical ideas (people can be any sex they want!) an individual of passable intelligence can take before losing her mind.

No doubt every generation has felt this way, asking, “What is the world coming to?” If I weren’t a Christian yet still appalled by what’s happening in this country, where would I turn for guidance and relief? As a believer, I know God’s plan is unfolding as He decreed it. Though my finite mind often struggles with it, I have moments of spiritual clarity about God’s sovereignty, and the frustration and confusion dissipate. I pray for more of these moments.

Christians, keep telling the world, the individual, about what the God of the Bible, the Creator of all things, requires of us. In the Book of Acts, Luke wrote:

“Then Peter said to them, ‘Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is to you and to your children, and to all who are afar off, as many as the Lord our God will call.’ And with many other words he testified and exhorted them, saying, ‘Be saved from this perverse generation.’ Then those who gladly received his word were baptized; and that day about three thousand souls were added to them” (Acts 2:38-41, NKJV).

“Those who gladly received. …” We might never see the fruits of our witnessing efforts during our earthly lives, but the Holy Spirit is still convicting, and God is still saving. Pray for more spiritually clear moments, and keep your eyes on the Kingdom of God.