Have you ever wondered what life would be like without the Spirit? Imagine Jesus ascended into heaven leaving just His words. Leaving us just history to study. Leaving companionship only as a promise for the future, leaving us alone.

I find it easy to imagine, because thats how I live. Dead sometimes, studying history and talking to the roof. I’m not alone. Well I feel alone but I know there are others like me whose duracell has run flat, whose candle has burnt to a stump, and who have forgotten that the switch that could flood space with light is right at our fingertips…

We really do settle for too little when we forget that God is alive in our lives in the presence of His Spirit. So easy to forget. So easy to live on our own oblivious to the most powerful relationship in the world. Yet it is how we live, eyes too fixed on the material world to realise that there is more to life than what meets the eye.

“Nevertheless, I tell you the truth: it is to your disadvantage that I go away, for when I go away you will be all alone…you will have to discover truth on your own…you will have to figure out your own path…my presence and glory will only be with you in death”

No that’s not scripture. Here’s scripture:

“Nevertheless, I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away then the helper will not come to you. But if I go I will send him to you…He will guide you into all truth…He will declare to you the things that are to come. He will glorify me…” (John 16:7-14).

That may have been a bit dramatic, but just imagine. Disciples who had to go out and change the world based only on a memory. It sounds ridiculous and it is. Yet we casually go about our lives not seeing what’s right beside us. And that I think that is our downfall;
not searching, not seeking to live a life in the Spirit.

When speaking of the Spirit Jesus said: “The world at large cannot receive him because it isn’t looking for him and doesn’t recognise him” (John 14:17). Maybe by turning a blind eye we’re actually turning our backs on fullness of life and fulfillment of our duty to change the world.

We just celebrated Pentecost on Sunday. Did you pause and think about all it means? God the Spirit coming to earth to walk beside us. A promise fulfilled to never leave us…

Posted by Rich on Wednesday, May 30th, 2007 at 15:44 and is filed under Articles. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.