“Simon himself believed and was baptized. And he followed Philip everywhere, astonished by the great signs and miracles he saw.”
Acts 8:13 NIV
When it comes to receiving the Holy Spirit, is it something that you think about a great deal or is it something that you expect to just happen and it won’t change anything. Phillip shows us that living with the Holy Spirit is something that changed his life and began to change the lives of all those that Phillip was around. He did not stop to think about what others would think but he gave a clear proclamation of the Gospel and a clear demonstration of the power of Holy Spirit working in people’s lives.
When it came to Simon, he even believed and was baptized but he became jealous of Phillip and wanted to be like Peter and John. It is not to say that Phillip, Peter or John were not good people to be emulated but Simon did not want to emulate, he wanted to dictate. All Simon had know was control and power and suddenly he was left without either. Peter rejected Simon’s money as an abomination. Simon was for the first time on the outside. Simon saw receiving the Holy Spirit as a commodity and not a blessing from God. He was so obsessed with power that he tried to convert Peter from faithful servant to slave to Simon. Peter did not fall prey to Simon’s conniving, in fact Peter rebuked Simon.
Simon wanted to control others but he could not control the Holy Spirit. Neither can we. If we want to believe in Jesus and receive the Holy Spirit, it should not be about us, it should be about God and His grace and love for His people. Peter realized this and lived it out, Phillip realized this and lived it out, and people’s lives were forever changed by the Holy Spirit because Peter, John, and Phillip devoted their lives to honouring and loving God because of Jesus. Receive the Holy Spirit while benefits us, this should not be our focus because we are blessed we should share the blessing of God’s love for His people. We mustn’t cheapen it and turn it into love for only ourselves.
