Sweet, Sweet Spirit

Often times it's the little things that get my attention the most.  Maybe I'm just a little slow at recognizing things from time to time, but every now and something will leap out and grab my thoughts.  Something like this...

Have you ever really considered the significance of the Holy Spirit?  I mean, beyond the scope of being a part of the trinity, or just that "thing" that came down at Pentecost?  I know within different denominational groups and styles of worship the presence of the Spirit is recognized and valued in different ways, even sometimes being a heavily debated topic.  However, it is not the dissention over the Holy Spirit that fascinates me; it is the Spirit's very practical role in carrying on the work of Christ through the lives of His disciples.

Being a very practical-minded person, it always makes me chuckle when God shows me how down-to-earth and practical He is about the shortcomings of human nature and about the fulfillment of our every need.  Case in point...the importance of the Holy Spirit.  As I worked my way through the gospel of John this past year, I was continually amazed at how the disciples just didn't get it.  What do I mean by "it"?  Well...they just about didn't get anything Jesus was trying to teach them.  Very rarely during the time of Jesus' life and teaching on earth did the disciples truly grasp the full meaning and implication of Jesus' words and actions.  To me it always seemed as if they couldn't get beyond the here-and-now...they were limited by their connection and understanding of the physical world in which they lived, and had difficulty understanding things they could not see or experience first hand (sound familiar anyone?).  In John 14:11 (and in several other places) Jesus says, "Believe me when I say...or at least believe on the evidence of the miracles [you have seen me do]."  He knew they had trouble grasping the meaning of what he said, so he appealed to their physical beings through physical ways they could see or experience first-hand. 

Now we get to where the Holy Spirit comes in.  Jesus knew his time on earth was going to run out before He could teach the disciples everything He wanted to share with them.  John 16:12-13 says, "I have much more to say to you, more than you can bear.  But when the Spirit of Truth comes, he will guide you into all truth."  What is this Spirit of Truth?  The Counselor...the Holy Spirit!  The ever-present spiritual presence of God!  Jesus' time of physical presence with them would soon be at an end, but the Holy Spirit would continue Christ's work within them, helping them to make sense of what Jesus told them and truly learn how to follow Jesus' teaching and examples.  It is like having Jesus' personal presence with us and teaching us all the time.  Any teacher can say memorable and meaningful things, but over time even the best pupils will forget or even worse, twist the meaning of what they had learned.  Jesus is the teacher that never stops teaching, through the invisible hand of the Holy Spirit.  It's like a perpetual conscience, illuminating truth, showing right from wrong, and making it all so much easier for us to understand.  No wonder many of the writings of the disciples and apostles that were written after they received the gift of the Holy Spirit (Phillipians, James, etc.) are so much easier to read and decipher for many of us (at least for me!).  They were written under the guidance of the Spirit of Truth, which showed the writers how to apply the teachings of Jesus to every facet of life and helped them to "work out their salvation with fear and trembling." (Philippians 2:12)

The continual presence of the Holy Spirit in believers through out time negates the idea that the teaching of the Bible no longer applies to modern times.  Anyone who has accepted Christ and received the gift of the Holy Spirit has a constant adviser to help him or her understand how to live like Christ in a modern world.  The world around us may change, but God's truths will always remain applicable.  John 16:13-14 continues with Jesus' words about the Spirit, "He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears (a.k.a the Truth!) and tell you what is yet to come.  He will bring glory to me by taking from what is mine and making it known to you."  Sounds like one incredible adviser to me!  Only speaks the truth (from God, not some independent, biased opinion), tells us what is to come, and opens the heavenly store house of God's wisdom and blessings and gives them to us!  I don't know about you, but it seems to me that we all would be a lot better off if we spent more time listening to and following the guidance of the Spirit, than listening to and following all of the other voices that surround us.

John 16:16 - "In a little while you will see me no more, and then after a little while you will see me."  I don't think Jesus is referring to the resurrection here, but rather to sending the gift of the Holy Spirit.  Although we may not have his actual,  physical presence among us (a human form we can walk with and talk to like the disciples did), He has given us something equally valuable...a constant spiritual presence that teaches us to really "see" and understand who Jesus is and how He is doing incredible things in our lives. 

Thanks be to God for His indescrible gift!