Week 11 of 2025

During the infancy of the early church, the people received the preaching of the baptism of the Holy Spirit; Paul ensured that the believers understood the difference between John and Jesus’s baptisms. “He then asked, ‘Then into what were you baptized?’ They answered, ‘Into John’s baptism.’ Then Paul said, ‘John baptized when they repented, telling the people to believe in the one who was to come after him, that is, in Jesus.’ On hearing this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. When Paul laid his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came on them, and they began to speak in foreign languages and to prophesy. There were about twelve men in all” (Acts 19:3–7 ISV). Only a century after the apostles began preaching the baptism of the Holy Spirit, the common people were not following the leading of the Spirit as they had earlier. This may have been because the cares of this world overwhelmed them, the passion to follow the way of forgiveness and hope faded, or because the religious authorities claimed to be the only ones to understand the leading of the Spirit, desiring for themselves the power over their congregation. It may have been a combination of those things. In any case, the people became complacent and relinquished their personal responsibilities to grow in Christ to the leaders. Meanwhile, they lived their daily lives in the circumstances in which they found themselves. They allowed the cares of this world to smother the peace of Christ.

Complacency is not a new thing in this world. How do we keep from letting life overwhelm us and drive us to that state?