According to the Catholic Calendar, today is Pentecost Sunday, the seventh Sunday after Easter. This is to celebrate the coming of the Holy Spirit upon the early Christians while they were together in Jerusalem. While this may look like the regular Sunday, it is also a time to reflect on the significance of the event.
Let's not forget of a similar event that took place in the Bible, when the descendants of Noah, who were together in one place, with one spoken language at the time, but decided to build a tower for some selfish reasons. The builders of the tower of Babel had an ungodly interest to rub shoulders with God, they wanted to build a tall tower that would reach heaven. The Lord became angry with the aim behind the building. So, He made them speak in different languages without understanding what another was saying because it was an unknown language. They got confused trying to understand what was happening to them, hence the evil plan had to come to an end, but the Pentecost was a different ball game.
Christ had promised to send a comforter to continue from where he stopped. When the Holy Spirit came upon the apostles and other followers of Christ, they were United, filled with the love of God, and the Holy Spirit came upon them. They began to speak in different languages, but they were still able to understand each other, unlike the Babylonians. This happened because they had good intentions, it was godly, there was no division amongst them. They had one thing in common; LOVE! Which made it possible for the Holy Spirit to dwell amongst them.
The truth is, the Holy Spirit cannot dwell where there is hatred, division, jealousy, and ungodly thoughts. One of the essences of the whole Christian race is based on Love. The question is, do we really practice the love of God? The Bible says we should love our neighbors as ourselves which simply means that, if we don't have love in us, we don't really know God and the love of God is far from us. The word of God says, if you love me, you will keep my word. And if we don't show love amongst ourselves, it shows the Holy Spirit is not dwelling in us. The attitude we exhibit as believers show the level of the Word of God in us. It is not all about how people see you although it is also important, the thing is, anyone can pretend to be good in order to deceive others but no one can lie to the Spirit.
Therefore, it is very vital that we embrace the Bible principals as a way of life. There are nine fruits of the Spirit that shows a spirit-filled believer. And there are also the fruits of the flesh that shows otherwise. As a believer which of these fruits do you exhibit? Honestly, Christianity goes beyond attending the weekly activities in the church. It is not all about how frequent we attend Sunday services. Rather, it's all about your service to God, your personal relationship with Him, your love for humanity, your inner thoughts, and your intention of doing things too. Remember, we cannot serve two masters at a time. I am not trying to be all righteous here and I am not saying we have to be perfect, but we can always try to do the best we can, with the help of the Holy Spirit. The early Christians were faithful to the end because they had the Spirit dwelling in them.
As we celebrant the Pentecost today, let us ask ourselves some questions;
Do we really love Christ?
Is the Spirit living amongst us?
What is your life driven purpose?
How often do you show an act of kindness?
The question goes on and on. The Bible says we should always examine ourselves to see whether we are still in line with the principles of God. This is a wake-up call in every believer of Christ. I pray God will redirect and channel our hearts to do greater good, amen!
Cheers and thank you for reading!
