The Night My Friend “Received” The Gift of Tongues
This intense focus today on the miraculous sign gifts of the Holy Spirit, I believe, is actually just a form of intellectualism - needing tangible proof for belief. It’s not that there are no such thing, because before the gospels were written, there needed to be proof that validated what these men were saying. In the context of the life of the modern believer, however, these things are not normal. The movements that so intensely seek them are simply ignoring basic Biblical truth in order to receive a receipt of validation for their faith. In other words, the aggressive use of faith in the attempt to enable supernatural abilities is actually, in itself, a lack of faith.
Instead, we should focus our minds on God’s Word, and when it comes to the Holy Spirit, the fruit He bears in us (Galatians 5:22-23). Rather than desperately seeking sign gifts, we should let the Spirit bear patience. Rather than shaking or falling down, we should let the Spirit bear self-control. Rather than forcing the gift of tongues, we should let the Spirit bear faithfulness, goodness, joy. We should continue to bear fruit in repentance.
There was a season when I was in high school where I became charismatic. I grew up Baptist, and the Word hadn’t quite taken root yet. I was quickly caught up into the hype of the spirituality, joyful music, and community driven experimental culture of a youth group lock-in that my best friend at the time and I were invited to. Picture two little Baptist kids in the midst of some very unknown territory. There was immediately a lot of pressure to be anointed to receive the gift of tongues, and I was hesitant because even though I tried it once or twice, I knew in my heart that I was just making things up. My friend dove in head first. I was standing literally two feet away and watched him get “baptized in the Holy Spirit”, even though he had already been baptized at church.
With loud music blaring and the chaos of a mosh pit, they anointed him with oil, prompted him, quite passionately, to lift his hands, start jumping, and to begin to just say random syllables. With some hesitancy at first, they kept prompting and instructing louder and louder, and he finally did. Now, if that was the true work of the Holy Spirit, I don’t think he would have to be taught what to do, and I also think we’d all expect that this guy to be a preacher or missionary by now, right? Wrong. Over time, our friendship dissolved when I didn’t follow that same path. After high school, I reached out to him to try and discuss the events and see if we could resolve things. He had disconnected with me, and almost everybody from our Christian school that still believed the Bible because he had become a homosexual. He left the church, and embraced the LGBT lifestyle which, again, if what happened at the lock-in was actually of the Holy Spirit, He would have the Holy Spirit, and the Holy Spirit moves us away from things that God has said is sin, not toward them. When he and I messaged back and fourth, I did my best to lovingly re-befriend him and try and establish the lines of communication in order to share the true gospel. Before I could even get to my beliefs, he made it clear that if I wasn’t for his lifestyle, he didn’t want me in his life.
All this to say, That night made an impact on me. I know there are movements that are less crazy than the one who held the lock-in that night, but I also know there is danger in focusing on the wrong things even a little. It’s the fruit listed in Galatians that is the true evidence of our salvation. In 1st Corinthians 12, Paul clears things up my mentioning these kinds of gifts and asserting that not all will have them. My argument is that today we have the treasure of God’s Word fully complete and assembled. I don’t believe He would gift believers with these kind of gospel-affirming signs when we don’t even pay attention to, dedicate ourselves to, and fully submit to His Word in the first place. Let us patiently and humbly wait on and trust the Lord. Whether He gives us the ability to shoot sparks out of our fingers or gives us a difficult person to show the love of Christ toward, let us let Him be King, and us His humble servants.
- - -
“Jesus said to him, ‘Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.’” John 20:29
