Better than Jesus?

I love that God chose to live in community; Father - Son - Holy Spirit. All distinct. The Father is not the Son.  The Son is not the Spirit.  The Spirit is not the Father…  Again, all distinct. And yet, all three are fully God.  

We understand what a Father is. We can identify with Jesus as a Son. He is one of us. But the Spirit is a mystery to most people. We don’t get Him. We don’t understand Him.

Before Jesus’s death on the cross, he said to the apostles, I am going to ask the Father for something…

(John 14:16-17)  “I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper [Counselor; Advocate; the Holy Spirit] to be with you forever, the Spirit of truth.  The world cannot accept [receive] him, because it does not see him or know him.  But you know him, because he lives [remains; abides] with you and he will be in [or among] you.” 

He says again in Chapter 16, starting in v7,

“But I tell you the truth, it is better for you [for your advantage] that I go away.  [L For] When I go away, I will send the Helper [Counselor; Advocate; C the Holy Spirit] to you.  If I do not go away, the Helper will not come [to you].  

What struck me about these passages is that Jesus says He, the Holy Spirit… the person, is here now.  And, that He is better.

Why is He better?  

Because up till now, God has loved His people. He has provided. He has guided. He has protected. But He has been outside His people.  Now, in the person of the Holy Spirit, God is no longer outside.  He is now inside.  He is inside of us.  The Father has sent Him to be IN you. He is our helper. He is the one who enables us to do the Father's will. This is God on a global scale.

What Jesus made possible, the Holy Spirit makes actual in us. He is the physical evidence of the Lord.  It is the Holy Spirit that empowers each of us individually to do the work of God. 

If we are ineffective in ministry, or lack loving each other, or are not living fruitful lives…. It is not due to needing more of anything.  It’s our getting in His way, competing with Him.  It’s our pushing Him aside and not listening to Him.  

Spend some time dwelling on the fact that He is present in you right now. Walk with Him. Live in the cooperative presence of the Lord, letting His mind, through the Word, guide - coach - and fuel everything that we think and do.