Are there things you don’t understand? Do they seem to be beyond your understanding? Is the Holy Spirit someone you aren’t quite sure how he works? Do you feel his presence at time and not at others? Have you ever felt his presence in your life?
There are many things in our lives that can be hard to understand. For some of us, higher level math such as algebra, trigonometry, or calculus may be difficult. For others, breaking down a sentence into nouns, verbs, and adjectives may be confusing.
The Holy Spirit is often someone Christians have trouble understanding. Some will describe him as our conscience. Others describe him as Jesus living in us. Still others claim he is mystical, and we can never fully understand how he works because he is also God. None of that gives us a full understanding.
We may go through life never fully understanding who the Holy Spirit is. After all, we cannot fully comprehend God. Yet, we can gain a better understanding. Jesus promised to send the Holy Spirit to the apostles and to us after He had returned to the Father. He did that on Pentecost.
Through the teaching of the apostles and in the example of Jesus’ baptism, we now know the Holy Spirit comes to live within us at our baptism. This awesome gift from God was not available to the Israelites prior to Pentecost. The Holy Spirit wasn’t often talked about among the early Christians. Even some of the early preachers, other than the apostles, didn’t know about the Holy Spirit. In today’s passage we have an example of Paul rectifying their lack of understanding.
Though we may not be capable of fully understanding God nor how the Holy Spirit works, we can gain a better understanding. Reading about him in Scripture and asking God to reveal himself to us are two ways to improve our knowledge. Seeking to understand how he is and how he works will improve our following of Jesus Christ.
I pray we all seek to better understand who the Holy Spirit is. I pray we seek to understand how he works in us. I pray each one of us will read Scripture and ask God to reveal his Holy Spirit to us. Seek understanding. Read Scripture. Ask God to reveal the Holy Spirit. Become a better follower of Jesus.
Acts 19:2 He said to them, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you became believers?” They replied, “No, we have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit.”
Marty Pressey 