The Spirit, the Water and the Blood

Our attention, this time of year, turns to gifts. We make lists of people, ideas, and budgets. We try to meet everyone's expectations. I'm sure you will agree with me that meeting all those expectations is difficult. For a few minutes, take time to look at the Gift we celebrate at Christmas and think about the way salvation through Jesus Christ exceeds all our expectations.

The gift of salvation. So often we take it for granted. Yet this elegant, priceless gift is worthy of our constant consideration.

The Bible tells us that we were born with sinful natures. God judged us guilty of rebellion against Him. We stood under the sentence of death. Since the shedding of blood fulfills the death sentence, Jesus gave His life in our place – shed His blood in our place – so that we might be released from the sentence of death. No one else could make this sacrifice. No other person was born without a sinful nature. Jesus bought our freedom with His blood.

It was necessary to free us from the penalty of death, but Jesus accomplished much more than that. At the moment we asked for His forgiveness and accepted Jesus' death for our punishment, the Holy Spirit breathed new life into us. Until that moment, we were dead, spiritually. Jesus told Nicodemus that he had to be born of the Spirit before he could enter the kingdom of God. Jesus' death was a requirement for our freedom. His resurrection from the grave is the picture of our new life. He arose and returned to Heaven, sending the Holy Spirit to earth to bring new life to those who trust in Him. This new life is life by God's definition: eternal union with Him, always in His presence, ever praising Him.

We are free from sin's control – but not its existence. We live in God's presence – but experience it only dimly. We continue to exist in this sinful world. Sometimes the muck and mire sticks to us. Jesus' sacrifice provided for that as well. Remember when Jesus washed the disciples' feet at The Last Supper? Jesus told Peter that He had to wash his feet because they got dirty from walking, even though the rest of him was clean. John 19:34 relates that the piercing of Jesus' side while He was hanging on the cross, caused blood and water to come out. This water is for cleansing – Jesus faithfully cleanses us from all unrighteousness when we confess our sins to Him.

Only the cleansing from unrighteousness has a natural ending. As long as we live on earth, we will need Jesus to keep the spots of filth removed from our souls. However, when He returns to carry us away from this sin-filled earth, He will clothe us in garments of sparkling white, never to be soiled again.

Salvation always has a definite day of beginning, but it has no end. Today we are free to resist sin's desires. Today we live in the presence of God. Today we can be clean and spotless before Him. Salvation truly is the gift that keeps on giving – for all eternity.

Treasure #4: Secure in His Love

Have you tired of gazing at my treasures: God's pure, encompassing love, His delight in my fumbling attempts to be like Him, His ravished heart when I look only to Him? These treasures make my dark days brighter and my bright days indescribably lovely. You have undoubtedly turned them into your treasures, too, so let me share another one with you.

My fourth treasure: The Holy Spirit is jealously guarding me.

Fear and insecurity can deprive me of sleep at night and of joy in the morning, but God desires me to live my life secure in His love. He has gone to extremes to see that I am secure. James 4:5 says, "Or do you think it's without reason the Scripture says that the Spirit He has caused to live in us yearns jealously?" (Holman Christian Standard Bible)

Normally, jealousy would be considered a negative emotion. It usually indicates a lack of trust one person has of another person. However, in one relationship, jealousy can be appropriate: marriage. Suppose a man discovers that his wife is being romantically pursued by another man. This husband truly loves his wife and is committed to the relationship, so he does not ignore the situation and let this thief steal his wife's heart. He does everything in his power to keep his wife's love and to eliminate this thief permanently.

The New Testament speaks often of the church being the bride of Christ.

The best way to understand this relationship is to look at the Jewish practice of betrothal and marriage. The betrothal lasted for about a year, but was much more than our engagement is, today. The betrothal was as binding as the marriage. A betrothed woman could be executed for adultery if she became pregnant, because the marriage was not consummated during the betrothal. (This almost happened to Jesus' mother.) Traditionally, the woman received a gift from her husband at the betrothal.

From the perspective of betrothal and marriage, I have been betrothed to Jesus Christ and am now waiting for Him to come and claim me as His own bride. I have received the Holy Spirit as a type of betrothal gift. He is a seal that guarantees that I am Christ's, but He is also here to defend me from temptation and to rescue me from the world.

According to Rick Renner in Sparkling Gems for the Greek, one scholar expands James 4:5 to it's full meaning this way: "The Spirit takes it very personally when we share our lives with the world. He wants us so entirely for Himself that if the world tries to take us away, it infuriates Him. You need to know that in these cases, the Holy Spirit will not sit idly by and watch it happen. He'll do something to change the situation."

With the Holy Spirit completely committed to protecting me and to holding me safely in my betrothal to Jesus Christ, I have nothing to fear. I am secure in His love. Absolutely.

Food for Thought

One of my favorite activities is "God-at-work" watching. Some people like to go bird watching; I like to keep my eyes open for "God-at-work" signs.

Take last week, for instance. The Holy Spirit began setting me up for a "WOW! Did you see that?" experience.

Pam, one of my "adopted daughters" came to visit. When I asked her what God was teaching her, she was open enough to tell me that she was in a dry spell where reading the Bible did nothing for her. We went on to speak of other things and I promised to pray for her.

Fast forward to our Bible study group meeting, on Wednesday. Ms. Verla, (see this post Grand opportunity Take Two to get better acquainted with her) shared her frustration about reading the Bible one minute and not remembering what she read the next minute.

Any of us who have been Christians for very long know just how they feel. Sometimes we, like Pam, get nothing from what we read in the Bible. At other times, we, like Ms. Verla, remember nothing of what we just read. As the group discussed Ms. Verla's situation, shared their own similar experiences, and offered possible solutions that had been helpful to them, the Holy Spirit gave me an insight entirely new to me: even when our minds gets no benefit from reading the Bible, it nourishes our spirits.

Both Pam and Verla thought they were wasting their time when they read the Bible but saw no lasting benefit. If it were only our minds that needed the truth found in God's Word, then they would be correct. However, Psalm 143:4a says, "So my spirit grows faint within me." The food that nourishes our spirits is God's Word.

When I encouraged Ms. Verla to read her Bible - even if she remembered nothing – to nourish her spirit, Anna, our Bible study leader took up the thought with a great analogy. I want to personalize this analogy as I share it with you.

My daughter, Melana, was involved in an automobile accident several years ago. As a result, she was in a coma for 17 days. She was unable to eat or even be aware of her need to eat. With her mind out of the loop, the doctors fed her through a feeding tube. That kept her body strong enough to heal the trauma to her brain. Without the intervention of the doctors, she would probably have died from starvation before she could recover enough to eat on her own.

That is what happens to us when we go through a dry spell, spiritually. We can stop reading our Bibles, praying, and attending church simply because they feel like dry duties, of no benefit to us. That is the point where we must intervene on behalf of our spirits. We must keep our spirits strong while our minds are out of sync with God.

Like Pam and Ms. Verla, we can ask others to pray for us; we can ask others for suggestions for relief, but most of all we can carry on. We can feed our spirits until showers of blessings overcome the drought in our minds and we experience the touch of God in our lives that will certainly come again.

Now for the WOW moment, Pam called this morning to wish me happy birthday. I reminded her of our conversation from her last visit and told her about our time in Bible study, my insight and the analogy God gave Anna. I could almost see the light bulb go on over her head. A sense of wonder filled her voice as she thought about feeding her spirit even when her mind failed to cooperate. Two weeks, five people, and "God-at-work" closed the circle of need and understanding, bringing forth wisdom that we can all use in the future. Isn't God good?