Another Helper
John 14:15-17 “If you love Me, you will keep My commandments. And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him. You know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you.”
Jesus shares that He will ask His Father to give you another Helper to be with you forever. How beautiful is this picture that if someone should turn to the Lord Jesus for the first time with love in their hearts for Jesus and a true desire to follow His commands, then Jesus will ask the Father to send the Holy Spirit to us. How miraculous!
It is amazing to consider that when we receive the Holy Spirit of truth, we will know Him. We will know that He is with us and lives within us. While this may seem like something easily understood by followers of the Lord, let us be mindful how mysterious this actually is and especially to those who do not believe in the Lord. The secular world will not understand what to make of the Holy Spirit living within someone. Their questions will naturally wonder if this is bad, what does it feel like, do we lose control, and so on. The fundamental thing that they don’t understand is that the Holy Spirit is… holy. He is pure, loving, kind, joyful, and true. He works in ways that we cannot understand, so it may be difficult to describe how exactly He resides within us. The secular world will want some physiological explanation of where this seat is within our hearts, but they do not yet have faith to believe, so they will not understand no matter how we describe it.
What we can share with the secular world is that the Holy Spirit is quick to sting our hearts when we have done wrong and will give us confirmation when we are following Him. Is there any proof that the Holy Spirit does these things? Yes, we can see the Holy Spirit convicting sinful hearts when the person is broken in repentance. We can see the Holy Spirit giving joy to the followers of the Lord and choosing to help others instead of themselves. We can see the Holy Spirit giving saints peace in the face of adversity, suffering, and martyrdom.
Though the secular world will not understand how the Spirit dwells within you, let them see through your life and actions that He does dwell within you. Let them see that you live for the Lord and are called to a higher purpose. Your actions will be a better explanation of how the Holy Spirit lives within us than any verbal explanation to someone who doesn’t yet believe.