Day 5: The Holy Spirit and Hinges (Acts 2:1-13)
Today’s Passage: Acts 2:1-13
I worked in a hardware store from age 14 to age 20. I loved it. The full-store-length wall of hardware fixtures was seemingly endless. Knowing the exact, right hardware fixture to use for a task is a moment of great satisfaction.
One such device is a hinge. It’s a thing of beauty. They come in many shapes and sizes. They all have one part, which allows the two other parts to swing and do their job, the hinge pin.
Now you might be asking, what on earth (or in heaven) does this have to do with the Holy Spirit?
While a hinge is not a terribly complicated device, it delivers easy passage through a door.
On Day 3 I used the metaphor of a one-way door to get us thinking about the Ascension. Yet, doors swing on hinges.
I pray I am not forcing a metaphor, and I understand the Holy Spirit is God and therefore in-describable, but, in some ways, it is the Spirit of God which makes any of this possible.
Without God’s Spirit, we, like doors without hinge pins, simply fail.
Without God’s Spirit, we would not get through the metaphorical doors to God, for no one can call Jesus Lord, except by the power of the Holy Spirit. (cf. 1 Cor. 12:3)
Most of us complicate the Holy Spirit. The miracles we are about to read about in this Book of Acts, at times, do not help. Miracles are more than mysterious. We are often enamored by them. Add a person as God’s agent into the miracle mix, and we immediately begin to ascribe more spirituality to this person. We then begin to chase after the miracle, or we long that we would somehow be the person performing them. We even wonder if we somehow are deficient when we cannot.
Now please understand, this yearning is not all bad, but we have seen it before.
Do you remember how the crowds chased Jesus? In John chapter 6 they chased after him across the lake. It is the famous scene where Jesus offers them himself as the Bread of Life, and many leave.
They did not want Jesus. They wanted what he could give them. Which makes me ask, “What is the aim of being spirit-filled?”
God’s Word, in Galatians 5, answers that question. It tells us what spirit-filled people look like. They are people of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.
On the surface, you might say that these are not terribly mysterious—we can all “see them”. True, and while they are not mysterious, when these behaviors are consistently present in the life of a person, it is rather miraculous.
And I am not trying to be cute. We are told by God to be holy because He is holy. We can only be holy by the power of God’s Holy Spirit.
The flaming tongues, the rushing wind, and more have one aim—to empower us to be disciples of Jesus. To do what Jesus did. What did Jesus do? He led people to the Father, to God through his love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control—and sacrifice.