Stress Test Devotional May 4
May 04, 2024
ACTS 2:3 | 3 Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them, and a tongue rested on each of them.
JEREMIAH 31:31-33 | 31 The days are surely coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah. 32 It will not be like the covenant that I made with their ancestors when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt—a covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, says the Lord. 33 But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.
Every community of disciples lives out of the power of Pentecost and every disciple within a community of faith is touched by God’s Spirit. How the prophets had longed for this day! Jeremiah imagined a new covenant that was internal, a new intimate experience of God for all God’s people. Joel pictured the Spirit poured out on all flesh. No longer just prophets, seers, priests, and kings—everyone could be guided, directed and empowered by the Lord. This vision destroys hierarchy, changes community, and allows everyone to celebrate everyone else.
The shared experience of the Spirit is expressed in common songs, common prayers, common mission, and common confession. Do you agree?
Gracious God,
Renew my sense of shared identity and common cause. Let my individualism serve a common purpose.
Amen.
