Ever watch parents drop young children off at a babysitter or day care center? Some children toddle off and enjoy playing. Some become despondent and wail continually – at least until their parents are out of site. Some never settle until their parents come back. Why the differences in reactions? It is all based on the relationship between the child and the parents and state of health and nurture the child is in. Sick children need their parents more and have a harder time leaving them. Children that desire more time with their parents have a difficult time being separated – again. But children who are confident their parents will come back and get plenty of nurture and are feeling well often run to play with the other children and enjoy their time where they are. Children often reflect the parent’s emotions as well. If a parent if feeling out of sorts, the child likely will as well. Children have a keen sensing mechanism to pick up on the parents’ emotional status.
Adults aren’t so different. We don’t stand at the door and wail despondently, but we deal with life differently depending on how well we feel nurtured and cared for, how much sleep we get, and how healthy we are. Jesus said to the disciples, “Now I am going to him who sent me, yet none of you asks me, ‘Where are you going?’ Because I have said these things, you are filled with grief.” John 16:5-6 The disciples obviously are not done with Jesus yet. They don’t feel they have had enough nurture and teaching. They are not ready for him to go. Why is he talking this way? Jesus knows their hearts and he is trying to answer their concerns – even if they are too grief-stricken to say them out loud.
“But I tell you the truth: it is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Counselor will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you.” John 16:7
How can a loved one leaving be good? That would be very hard to see at that moment. But Jesus tries really hard to explain to them the coming of the Holy Spirit – the Counselor. He is ushering in a new age. First he, Jesus, comes on the scene to add to their picture of who God is. Now he is going to leave and send the Holy Spirit – and He tells them why. “When he [the Counselor] comes, he will convict the world of guilt in regard to sin and righteousness and judgment: in regard to sin, because men do not believe in me; in regard to righteousness, because I am going to the Father, where you can see me no longer; and in regard to judgment, because the prince of the world now stands condemned.” John 8-11 Wait a minute – I always thought the Holy Spirit was to give me goose bumps and take my breath away! He’s supposed to heal and make me feel good. But John is telling us that Jesus said the Counselor was coming to “convict the world of guilt in regard to sin and righteousness and judgment.”
“… in regard to sin, because men do not believe in me…” We need to understand what it is that we do not believe in order to be able to move toward belief. If we are convicted of our unbelief, that would create a desire in us to believe, which would then make us seek after God.
“… in regard to righteousness, because I am going to the Father, where you can see me no longer…” Once Jesus leaves the earth, those who know him will understand more completely who he was and why he was here. If Jesus would have stayed, that ‘now-I-get-it’ moment would not have come. The Gospels were written after Jesus left and the Holy Spirit came to the disciples. They are able to convincingly present Jesus as the Christ to us because they had lived through the ‘end of the story’ – his death on the cross and his resurrection. There are some things we just can’t get until they actually happen!
“… in regard to judgment, because the prince of this world now stands condemned.” Satan doesn’t want us to know this – that he is already condemned. But the Holy Spirit will continually teach and assure us that this is so. God knows the end of the story, and while it is a little sketchy for us, once we allow the Holy Spirit access to our lives, he will continually comfort and encourage us and give us confidence to overcome the evil around us knowing that Satan’s time is almost up.
Sometimes a parent will leave a special blanket or toy with the toddler to comfort them while the parent is away. It is some level of assurance the parent is coming back and life can go on until that time. The Holy Spirit is a comfort blanket for us, but also it is so much more. The Holy Spirit comes with power to change our lives. It is a direct line to the Father, the Creator of the universe and all that is in it. It is our GPS of life and Jesus is the satellite that it operates off of. Our Comforter is also our teacher.
It’s nice to know that God did not leave me alone to fend for myself.
No comments:
Post a Comment