Someone in Sunday school asked, “How do you know if you have the Holy Spirit?” There was a pause before the teacher explained, “Have you ever felt really good inside? Then you have the Holy Spirit.”  I wasn’t satisfied by that, and have wondered about the Holy Spirit ever since.

In confirmation class we studied the Apostles’ Creed and Luther’s explanation including these words: “I believe that I cannot by my own reason or strength believe in Jesus Christ, my Lord, or come to Him; but the Holy Spirit has called me by the Gospel, enlightened me with His gifts, sanctified and kept me in the true faith.” I can’t remember, however, what the Pastor taught about that explanation.

Lutherans just don’t talk much about the Holy Spirit. I certainly didn’t as a pastor, so there’s no fault at all on the part of my Sunday School teacher or pastor years ago. Nevertheless, the question continues to tumble in my mind: “How do you know if you have the Holy Spirit?”

Maybe 20 years later I ran into Lutheran Charismatics, people who were positive they knew all about the Holy Spirit. For them, if you have the Holy Spirit, you can speak in tongues. And if you can’t speak in tongues, you have no claim to authority and cannot correctly interpret Scripture. Since that approach was divisive in every congregation where I witnessed it, I decided that couldn’t be right. But what should I say about the Holy Spirit? I’ll write more about it next week.

Read Isaiah 11:2 and remember: God loves YOU unconditionally.

Wayne