Belonging to God

DEVOTION

THE BOOK OF ACTS

BELONGING TO GOD

Acts 10:46-48

Then Peter said, 47 "Can anyone keep these people from being baptized with water? They have received the Holy Spirit just as we have." 48 So he ordered that they be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. Then they asked Peter to stay with them for a few days.

NIV    

Is there any question that being filled with the Holy Spirit has absolutely nothing to do with being baptized in water? Although it is true as a believer in Jesus Christ it is a wonderful experience to follow him in baptism which does in fact symbolize the old self being buried and the new resurrected self raising up out of the water. But that is not necessary to either be saved or to be filled with the Spirit. We certainly have seen proof of that right here as Cornelius, his family and friends who were in his home listening to Peter explain all that God had commanded him to about Jesus, were saved and then filled with the Spirit with the evidence of speaking in tongues and now Peter orders them to be baptized in water. So we do have three distinct events which have occurred in the life of Cornelius and his family and friends. Certainly their lives would never be the same again. Although it is true that before Peter came to his house, Cornelius was a God fearing man, and did good deeds, but he had never knew anything about Jesus and the Holy Spirit until now and that changed everything. We should examine our life once again and make sure that although we are God fearing and we have accepted Jesus Christ as our Savior and been baptized in water, and filled with the Spirit that everything in our lives have been changed. Although we still must live in the world, make our way, so to speak, we cannot become so engrossed in the ways of the world that we separate our life in Christ from our life in the world.  If our goals or ambitions or desires are for the things of the world then perhaps we have lost our focus on the spiritual events which have happened in our life. What God has provided in Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit for our life is not so much for our earthly benefit as it is for our heavenly benefit, although he still does provide for our lives here as well. But the point here is that everything in our lives have been changed. We have been saved, we have been filled with the Spirit and have the evidence of that event, and we have followed Jesus in baptism in water. This only thing left is for us to live as this changed person, in every aspect of our lives. We cannot departmentalize our material life from our spiritual life, as God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit are one, so are we one. Although we demonstrate to our fellow believers our faith in Jesus by following him in the baptism of water, our life must reflect who we actually are, a person saved by the grace of God through Jesus Christ and filled with the Holy Spirit with the evidence to show, not just our fellow believers, but the world, we belong to God.