It’s OK, I’m Good! Really?
“Utterly amazed they asked: ‘Are not all these men who are speaking Galileans’? Then how is it that each of us hears them in his own native language“? (Acts 2:7,8). Undoubtedly today, somebody would conclude on hearing such a story, that it must be the result of a really great new app. Not so, not so. But on the other hand, we could think, wow this is the result of a really great message, which is simply (from Acts 2:21), “And everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved“. As a school boy growing up in NJ, our class took a field trip to the United Nations in NYC, where we witnessed a room filled with people’s from more than a hundred nations. In that room one person spoke at a time and each member representative, listened to the speaker in his own native language. Of course they had the help of technology and a multitude of trained translators, but human kind had found a manner of communication similar to that of the Holy Spirit. Yet what strikes me even more powerfully today is the concept of being saved. Saved from what?
Most people who look at their own lives, see no reason for concern. There is really nothing in their lives which seems to be threatening them. What does the word “saved” mean to you? To be rescued from harm or danger? Today, let’s try the other definition, to be set free from the consequences of sin! When the Holy Spirit speaks to us, we are being given the answer on how to be saved from ourselves, the inevitable consequences of our own constant words, actions, omissions or neglectful choices. From these acts, we are routinely at grave risk. To me this suggests that we might need to call on the name of the Lord on a very regular basis, not just on the Sabbath, or religious holidays. Further, if we are paying attention to detail, we are to call on the name of the Lord. Why call on the name, when we could simply call on the Lord himself? When the Apostle Peter was explaining this amazing event to the bewildered witnesses, he told them of the Old Testament, prophet Joel, who’s words about coming events he was quoting. Joel’s counsel preceded the birth of Jesus, and had begun with the words “In the last days,” telling those listening to Peter, that we had finally entered the last days. This further suggests, calling daily on the Lord to be rescued from the constant “I, Me, My” focus of our lives.
JC Calkins with COMMON SENSE 4 UNCOMMON PEOPLE
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