A Message from the Moderator, Dana McNeil

Come Holy Spirit, Come

In the fall and winter I find I really like cookies and other sweets. And I vow every year to stay out of the Halloween candy and the Girl Scout cookies. The funny thing is that I can be very successful in giving those things up for lent when I have made a promise to God to avoid them in an attempt to grow closer to Him, but the rest of the time it seems really hard.

Recently in our message series on John we started to learn about Jesus’ promise to send the Holy Spirit and why He was going to send it. Jesus tells the disciples that He is sending the Holy Spirit to help them stay connected to Him. He is sending the Spirit to remind them of the things that He is telling them.

Oh No! That means that every time I am reaching for that candy or cookie and I hear in my heart “You think it will make you happy but it’s only going to make you sick” I am hearing the Holy Spirit try to remind me. And every time I deny what it is saying and grab the cookie, saying ”but it’s so good, and I don’t care what it costs me, even though I know I will later”, I am denying the very purpose of the Holy Spirit, to remind me that I asked Jesus to help me with this.

I think we often think of the work of the Holy Spirit only being that work that we call miracles where the healing happens in a flash, the power to overcome sin comes in a flash. But often it is the “still small voice” that reminds us of our relationship with Jesus, that reminds us who we are in Him, that reminds us of our commitment to Him, that reminds us of His commitment to us, and we are called to participate in the process by listening, by responding, by participating in the work that is being done in our life.

In His book “Forgotten God”, Francis Chan uses this analogy:

“Imagine I buy a treadmill to lose some weight. Three months later I take it back to the store and complain to the clerk that it didn’t work—I didn’t lose a pound. He asks me, “What was the problem? Did it not work properly?” I respond, “I don’t know if it works. I never ran on it. I just know I didn’t lose any weight, so I am done with it!” This may seem like a silly example, but change the details and suddenly it sounds pretty familiar: “I have prayed for the Holy Spirit to free me from my lust, and I am still addicted to pornography.” Or, “I have prayed for years to be able to forgive my dad, but I am still racked with anger and bitterness thirty years down the road.” “I have prayed for years to be free of my gluttony, but despite prayer, spiritually based support groups, and dieting, I am still a compulsive, unhealthy eater.” Fill in whatever sin plagues you and suddenly the treadmill illustration doesn’t seem so silly. In fact, it seems like those prayers for freedom from that ongoing sin didn’t really “work” in much the same way the treadmill didn’t help me lose any weight.”

It is the still small voice that tells us to close our lips as we are about to say something that we shouldn’t say. It is the still small voice that tells me “don’t pick up the cookie”. It is the still small voice that reminds us when we haven’t been spending any time with Jesus. It is the still small voice that reminds us that we can trust Jesus when everything feels like it is falling apart around us. It is the still small voice that reminds us that it’s all about Jesus when we get thinking that it’s all about us. It’s the still small voice that convicts us of our sin and reminds us we have a Savior who gave everything to forgive us and show us how much we mean to Him.

Jesus said, “He who hears these words and puts them into practice….” (Mt. 7:24)

Will we listen? Will we put them into practice? Maybe I should grab a cookie and think about it? Then again…