Sometimes being a Christian is a bit weird!
On the Day of Pentecost, God poured out the Holy Spirit upon all believers in a new, and powerful way (Acts 2:1-21). Miraculous signs were seen, with many speaking God’s Word in languages they’d never learned, so that foreign visitors could understand them. The believers were so affected by the experience of Pentecost that some onlookers mistook them for being drunk on wine (Acts 2:13).
Peter declared that this wasn’t the case, but that they were filled with the presence and power of the Holy Spirit.
If drunk people don’t care about their troubles, or what anyone else thinks of them, and are irrepressibly happy, the reason is because alcohol has made then temporarily stupid. Christians can also be carefree in face of difficulties, not care if people think them weird, and are always able to regain happiness. But in their case, it’s because the Holy Spirit has made the good news of Jesus Christ overwhelmingly real to them and given them a completely different and true outlook on life!
Being filled by the Holy Spirit is necessary for every Christian. And it doesn’t only happen once, but again and again throughout our lives, to make Jesus and His truth fully alive in us, and to make us fully alive as His followers. This doesn’t mean being out of control in anyway – the Holy Spirit is also a “Spirit of self-control” (Gal 5:22,23). But it does mean allowing God to do whatever He wants in our lives, some of which may at first seem a bit weird to us.
This is the only way to have all the best gifts that God our good Father wants to give us, and the best that we could ever want for our lives.
Grace upon grace, Jonathan.