People wanted to know what to do to be saved, what to do to have their lives transformed. “Repent!” Peter exclaimed. “Turn from the direction you were headed, and start walking a new path. Stop sinning, follow Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit is yours.”
I still can’t read those words without getting choked up because I remember all too well what my life was like before I turned from the direction I was headed and started walking a new path. You’re reading the words of a man who knows he’s saved. I’ve done exactly what the Scriptures tell us to do in responding to the invitation to repent and receive Christ, and as a result the Spirit of God circulates through me, testifying that I belong to him and securing me in my faith. The fullness of God’s presence and power does not come through good deeds. It does not come through church membership. It does not even come through growing up in a godly family. It comes, my friend, only through salvation in Christ.
From Failure to Faith
Transformation also means moving from failure and defeat to faith and spiritual fire. The believers at Pentecost lacked faith. They lacked fervor. They knew their past sins well and wondered if God could ever use people like them, given their significant track record of failure. I can certainly relate. On more than a few occasions I’ve asked God the question, “Is it really possible that I can achieve your mission when I’m this far from being perfect?”
So many believers stay planted on the spiritual bench because they have failed God in some way and wonder if the infraction will leave them permanently sidelined. They have lackluster prayer lives. They’re enslaved to habits they cannot break. They’re in bondage to sin they cannot shake. They can’t control their thought life, they can’t control their mouths, they can’t control their morals, they can’t control their appetites. They’re living in defeat and at great distance from the God who created them and loves them, constantly teetering on the brink of spiritual despondency because they don’t realize that with God’s presence comes his promise to renew us day by day, to fire us up moment by moment. Regardless of our past. Regardless of our sin.
God chooses to use the foolish in this world, failures and sinfulness and all, in order to shame the wise. He empowers us, he equips us, he tasks us, and he gives us great success, all for the purpose of showing himself strong. He provides strength in the midst of struggle, joy amid mourning, love to fend off fear. Think about this with me for a moment: when God uses people like you and me who are utterly undeserving and unworthy of being used, and he accomplishes magnificent things through us, who do you suppose gets the glory? God does!
