By His Commandments, such as, “You shall have no other gods”; You shall not use my name in vain”; “Honor your father and mother”; “Do not commit adultery”; “Do not steal”; He gives us a diagnosis, which honestly, is very difficult for us to swallow: we all have sinned and are doomed to hell! But like the doctor who visited the sick woman, God filled a prescription to heal us from sin and save us eternally! He sent his Son, Jesus Christ, to die in order to forgive our sins, and then rise again to bring us eternal life!

Okay. But like the woman, we too have to take the medicine in order to be healed; we need to believe in Jesus as our Savior! How can we bring ourselves to believe? We can’t. That’s in God’s hand too, God the Holy Spirit! The Apostle Peter once told his countryman, the Jews, “Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.”

What is the gift of the Holy Spirit? Peter is talking about the most important gift of Holy Spirit: the Holy Spirit gives us faith to believe in Jesus, and He gives it through baptism! This truth Peter learned from Jesus Himself! As Jesus says, “No one can enter the kingdom of God unless he has been born of water and the Spirit” (John 3:5)!  And also, “He who believes and is baptized shall be saved” (Mark 16:16).

Pentecost comes up later this month, and it is the Christian celebration of the Holy Spirit. Let’s use the opportunity to learn more about the Holy Spirit’s gift of faith to us through baptism and thank Him for it!

“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 will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.” 
— Acts 2:38