It's a Love Story
John 17:24-26, Ephesians 3:16-19
Do you ever stop and wonder about the Person of the Holy Spirit?
As we began studying Acts this year, it was immediately clear that this amazing book is centered around one central figure — The Holy Spirit. Truth be told, the Holy Spirit has been the person of the Trinity that I have understood the least. My mind relies on visual images, and a Holy Ghost is too ethereal for me to wrap my hands around. But — I have been missing out.
As we began delving into Acts and saw the bewildered and devastated disciples, who felt so abandoned and alone after the death of Jesus, the TRUTH of the Holy Spirit began to take shape. Jesus’ Words to comfort His friends in the Book of John came tumbling back — it is BETTER for me to go away, because only then can HE come.
How many times have we all wished Jesus would show up in person and join us at the table to discuss our needs, our questions, our hurts? But, He saw what the disciples could not, and what we can’t. When Jesus was a man, He was limited by time and space, able only to be in one place. His death not only secured our salvation, it cleared the way for Him to be with EACH and EVERY one of His believers 24/7.
He says it so clearly in John — the ADVOCATE will come and remind you of what I told you; “We (the Trinity) will be IN them as you are in me; I want those you have given me to be WITH me; I will continue to make you known, in order that the love you have for me may be in them, and that I MYSELF MAY BE IN THEM.”
When we accept Christ as our Savior, we hear the refrain, “Jesus is in your heart, Jesus lives in you, you are filled with the Holy Spirit!” But do we get it? Do we understand this new relationship from HIS perspective?
I was thinking about how it feels when you fall in love, or love someone so completely that you just want to be with them ALL the time. And then, how, if they went away, the loss that would consume you, and you would do anything to have them still around. What if JESUS feels that
way about YOU? Maybe our relationship with Him isn’t as one-sided as we tend to make it out to be. What if Jesus thinks that having to wait until you die to be reunited is too long?
What if, because He is God, and He loves you beyond what the human mind can even comprehend, He made a plan to be with you NOW? What if He, the Holy Spirit, doesn’t just come to you because it’s part of the salvation deal, and He has no other choice? What if He is the ONE who doesn’t want to be separated until you join Him in heaven, what if HE longs to be with YOU today?
Jesus isn’t just “up there” loving billions of Christians who are waiting in line to get His attention. Because He is omnipresent and omnipowerful and omni everything, He IS with you, and me, the individuals that HE CHOSE. You aren’t His by accident — It was HIS doing, HIS plan. He didn’t want to wait to be with YOU. SO He made a way. FOR THE NOW!
Would accepting this as truth change the way you view HIS PRESENCE and interact with Him?
By Kathy Paukune