Your Spiritual Journey
The Holy Spirit
The Holy Spirit
The movie IF (Invisible Friend) is due out next month, and it has a running gag about one IF named Keith. Keith repeatedly causes the leading man to stumble because he can't be seen. Even though he's invisible, the reality of his presence is undeniable.
This topic came up in our Adult Class last Sunday, in the form of a question about how we personally experience the Holy Spirit in our lives. Even within a class of well studied Christians there was a pretty wide range of answers. Taken at face value, some of those answers could become a stumbling block to others who have settled on a different realization of their relationship and interaction with the Holy Spirit.
This is exactly the kind of mysterious aspect of the Christian Walk that the unbelieving cynic uses to refute the validity of our beliefs. For example, the last line from the hymn He Lives “You ask me how I know he lives? He lives within my heart.” simply reinforces their argument that an invisible God is just a figment of our childish imagination. To them, we're no different than any other deluded believer in a made up religion. They can't get past the fact that, through our Faith, we're empowered to experience his presence when they cannot.
I pray that we can understand that the Holy Spirit was sent as the great Counselor to help us in as many forms as there are Christians seeking the benefits of his guidance. Do not let your Faith be unsettled by the depth and breath of how that may manifest itself for other Christians. Rejoice in how glorious it is that God made it that way because he cares for us as a Father for all his Children.
Andy