Reading: Luke 3: 15-18

Verse 16: “One more powerful than I will come… He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire.”

As we continue in Luke 3 we see that John’s witness to the Messiah is powerful and convicting. People are responding to his call to repentance and want to know what to do to be saved from the coming wrath. John is changing lives. The impact or fruit of his ministry leads people to wonder: Is he the Messiah?

John emphatically denies this idea and continues to point to the one that he is preparing the way for. John says, “One more powerful than I will come… He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire.” John’s baptism with water is a physical symbol of an inner desire to change, to live a more holy life. It is a step in the right direction. Jesus will come and baptize believers with the Holy Spirit and with fire. Coming to faith we receive or are “baptized” with the Holy Spirit. Just as the Spirit came down and landed upon Jesus at his baptism, so too does the Holy Spirit come into our lives as we are baptized. This constant indwelling presence of Jesus Christ can become the most powerful force in our lives – if we listen to and follow its lead.

John reconnects to the wrath to come as he speaks of a baptism of fire. He follows this up in verse seventeen, reminding them that not choosing Jesus will be a choice with consequences. The faithful Jesus will gather up into heaven. The unfaithful will experience the unquenchable fire. Faith is a choice. Deciding to live for Jesus is a daily if not hour by hour or moment by moment choice. We do not walk this hard road alone. Satan is more than willing to walk alongside us, leading us further and further from saving faith. The Holy Spirit of Jesus Christ is also willing to walk with us, leading and guiding us to walk always in a saving faith. This day and every day may we choose faith. May we choose eternal life. May it be so.

Prayer: Lord God, you are clear that faith is a choice. In each moment of decision may the Holy Spirit be loud and clear. Through this power may not always choose love, mercy, grace, compassion, forgiveness, justice, kindness, patience, peace… May it ever be your way and not my way, O Lord. Amen.