Moved by the Spirit, he went. (Luke 2:27)
A SPRING-DRIVEN WATCH won’t run until it is wound, nor will an internal combustion engine get you to the store without gas in the tank. Good luck getting your coffee brewed unless the coffee maker is plugged in. The thermodynamics that we take for granted in the physical world, we many times forget in the spiritual world. But the same law applies. Jesus told His disciples, “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you” (Acts 1:8).
The first few chapters of Luke’s gospel are as spiritually instructive to us as a freshman physics class is to young engineering students. Simeon went to the temple, saw his Messiah, and delivered God’s prophetic message to the parents of Jesus. But he never would have done these things if he hadn’t been “moved by the Spirit.” Mary miraculously conceived. How? “The Holy Spirit will come on you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you.” Zechariah’s tongue was loosened, and he prophesied about his son John’s mission, but only after he was “filled with the Holy Spirit.” Jesus’ public ministry began at His baptism, when “the Holy Spirit descended on him.”
Are you out of gas today? Sometimes when we’re winding down or not seeing coffee in the pot, we’ve forgotten the simple law of life in the Spirit. We need to plug in.
Spend time with God today asking for a fresh filling of His Spirit.
Bill Beck, with wife Lisa and daughter Katie, enjoys life in the Black Hills of South Dakota.
