Maybe the Holy Spirit needs a better publicist. Equal in standing with God the Father and God the Son, He doesn’t get nearly as much press as the other two. They have most of the good worship songs directed toward them. Eloquent prayers are offered to the Father, through the name of the Son. People are baptised into Jesus. They seek a personal relationship with their heavenly Father.
The Holy Spirit is the quiet member of the Trinity, the shy one, the one people have a hard time describing and discussing. Christians throughout the centuries have acknowledged the existence of the Holy Spirit, but many have been content to focus our attention on the Father and the Son.
Some of us have gone to the other extreme, pushing the pendulum to the opposite end, seeking a powerful encounter with God the Spirit without pursuing intimacy with God the Father through a personal relationship with God the Son. We want the goosebumps, the warm fuzzy feeling, the signs and the wonders.
We either reject the work of the Holy Spirit or become obsessed with Him.
But to misunderstand the Person and work of the Holy Spirit is to misunderstand something fundamental to Christianity. The Father sent the Son into the world and empowered Him by anointing Him with the Spirit. When the Son had completed His earthly mission and returned to the Father, He sent the Spirit to continue His work through His followers.
The Holy Spirit is a Person, a Helper, a Comforter, a Counsellor and an Advocate.
Still, there is so much confusion about Him. Does He do miracles? Is His only job description to teach us about God and convict us of our sin? Does He bring the goosebumps we feel in those intense times of worship and prayer?
Two things you can know for certain about the Holy Spirit. He will always point you to Jesus, and He will always work to form Christlikeness in you.
Did the miracle point you to Jesus? Or did it point you to the miracle worker?
Did the lesson point you to Jesus? Or did it point you to the teacher? Did the worship point you to Jesus? Or did it point you to the worship leader?
Did any of it make you think, feel and act more like Jesus than you did before?
These are the questions we should be asking, but because we misunderstand the purpose of the Spirit’s activity, we tend to value the gifts He brings more than His presence.
Without the Holy Spirit’s work, you won’t grow. Today, thank God for the gift of the Holy Spirit, and invite Him to point you to Jesus and help you become more like Him.
Prayer
Triune God, I confess that it is all too easy to overlook the Person and work of the Holy Spirit in my life and the life of the Church. He always points to Jesus, and His voice can be overlooked in the din of this world. And yet it would be impossible for anyone to live the Christian life without His presence and power. It is Your Spirit who reproduces the life of Christ within me, and I will only bear the fruit of the Spirit when I choose to walk in His strength. It is Your Spirit who was sent as the Comforter and Counsellor, and He imparts to us the divine resources for righteousness and life-changing ministry. It is through the filling of Your Spirit that Your Word can be proclaimed with transforming power, and You have given Him to Your followers to continue the work of Your Son in this world. May I walk in His footsteps, dependant on Your Holy Spirit.
In Jesus’s name, Amen
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