Put It in You
I’ve had the second part of 1 Peter chapter 3 verse 15 in my head lately. Here’s the popular NIV translation:
Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect…
Obviously “the hope that you have” makes sense. But in the Greek it says en hymin which means in you. So, translations that say “the hope in you” have something to say for them.
For Christians, Pentecost is the day Christians celebrate God’s Spirit being shared with Jesus’ disciples, with normal, flawed people like us.
There are actually two very different tellings of Pentecost in the New Testament – Acts 2 and John 20.
But in both it’s clear that the Spirit is somehow being put in the disciples. In other words, God is really sharing someone with the disciples who’s beyond them and will guide them as they carry on the life and work of Jesus.
God is really pouring into them a life that goes beyond their own, a life who will strengthen them through thick and thin.
In Acts 2 it’s the famous wind and tongues of flame settling upon each disciple gathered together in an upper room. In John 20 Jesus breathes onto his disciples and tells them to receive the Holy Spirit. (Spirit means both wind and breath.)
Let this settle in for a moment.
You’re in a hospital bed. Or you’re in a divorce proceeding. Or, perhaps, you’re sensing the call to do something good for the Muslims down the street.
You don’t need to rely just on your own abilities. You truly have the presence of God within you.
Even when you’ve got nothing, God’s got something in you.