-Proof Enough

“Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal.” 1 Corinthians 13:1

 

Proof Enough“Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal.” 1 Corinthians 13:1 

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Drinking, gambling, smoking, cursing, pornography and anger defined his life until he met the Savior. Then the Holy Spirit went to work, convicting him of his sins and giving him the power to overcome them (Jn. 16:8). The positional move from sinner to saint took place during his convicting sinner’s prayer. The practical move took a while longer. But he liked what the Spirit was doing in his life, and so did his family. They followed their “new man” as he began to lead spiritually. Then something happened.

One night his wife came home with a surprise – the gift of tongues! And she said he needed this gift also – to be sure he had the Holy Spirit. He got confused. I told him his changed life was proof enough that he was indwelt by the Spirit, but to his wife tongues was the only real proof. I told him the Bible never says every believer has to speak in tongues. In fact, only some in the early Church ever had that gift (1 Cor. 12:10).

We looked at the evidence of the Spirit in his life. His turning from sin alone was proof that he was a new creation (2 Cor. 5:17), and that Christ lived in Him (Gal. 2:20). Sin no longer ruled (Rom. 6:14), because the blood of Jesus had cleansed him from sin (1 Jn. 1:7). He was able to understand God’s Word (Jn. 14:26), and obey it (Rom. 6:17-19). He enjoyed sharing his faith with others (Jn. 4:39-42), and loved his church family (1 Jn. 3:14). And there was solid evidence of God’s fruit in his life (Gal. 5:16-23).

The Spirit’s presence was obvious. But his wife kept nagging, saying he needed real proof. She overlooked all the evidence of the Spirit in his life, because her new-found favorite piece of it wasn’t there. Let’s never let this happen to us. Instead let’s let the Spirit open our eyes to see what He is doing in the lives of other believers. And then let’s encourage them in a language (tongue) that everybody understands – the language of God’s love.

By Larry Ondrejack

With permission to publish by: Sam Hadley, Grace & Truth, 210 Chestnut St., Danville, IL., USA. Website: www.gtpress.org

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