The Holy Spirit alone makes the work of Christ effective to individual sinners, enabling them to turn to God from their sin and to trust in Jesus Christ.
Science is billed as a profession for clever people. If you were a high-achieving kid, chances are you'll have been steered towards a career in STEM. The stereotypical 'genius scientist' has a phenomenally high IQ, is brilliant at maths, and can see their way through a problem like Sherlock Holmes analysing a crime scene.
In reality, science requires practical and people skills as much as sheer intellect. Yet intellect remains one of the great idols of the university. Professors and postdocs jostle to be seen as cleverer than their peers.
Christianity often has a bad reputation in science departments. Faith, it's said, is superstition for ignorant people. If you're not intelligent enough to understand the science, you turn to religion for explanations.
While rejecting the idea that faith is for the intellectually deficient, believers might be tempted to play this same comparison game. We might quietly harbour an 'I'm cleverer than you' attitude towards our colleagues who don't know Jesus. How ignorant they are for disbelieving in God, we think, when our universe so obviously points to His existence.
The role of the Holy Spirit in salvation stops us in our tracks when we start to think in this way. Scripture tells us in no uncertain terms that in and of ourselves, we are entirely blind to the gospel. We can only turn from sin and trust in Christ by the Spirit enabling us to do so. Our faith is not a sign that we're clever - it's a gift from God that is entirely undeserved.
This knowledge should fill us with humility as we compare ourselves to our non-Christian colleagues. We are not 'better' or 'cleverer' because we know Jesus. But it should also give us hope. The same Spirit who gave us new birth is present and ready to act in others around us. Even the most stubborn heart is no match for the Spirit of God when He decides to work in someone.
What a reason to be praying for the people we study and work alongside! However stuttering and faltering our attempts to share our faith might be, in the power of the Spirit God can use them to bring people to Christ.
