Jesus, Get Out of Here Already!

November 19, 2012

“Now I am going to him who sent me, yet none of you asks me, ‘Where are you going?’ Because I have said these things you are filled with grief. But I tell you the truth: it is good for you that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Counselor will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you. When he comes, he will convict the world of guilt in regards to sin and righteousness and judgment: in regard to sin, because men do not believe me; in regard to righteousness, because I am going to the Father, where you can see me no longer; in regard to judgment, because the prince of this world now stands condemned.”

John 16: 5-11

“The miracle of redemption is that God turns me, the unholy one, into the standard of Himself, the Holy One, by putting into me a new disposition, the disposition of Jesus Christ.”

Oswald Chambers, My Utmost for His Highest

I struggled with My Utmost today, because it only keyed into verse 8, which was that “He” is going to come and convict the world. But when I read back a few pages, my heart was comforted. These are among many of my growing favorite verses (once you have been touched by the Spirit, your favorite verses start to increase in number!) because they speak directly to the One in whom we find all of our healing.

I struggled intellectually for the longest time trying to understand theology. I explain this in my blogger intro, and hopefully it is spelled out loud and clear through many of my reflections. I thought if I could just wrap my head around a concept, then the application would soon follow. This is how it works in the natural world. For instance, in order to drive a car properly and effectively, one must have a general understanding of key knowledge: keys, ignition, gas pedal, break pedal, steering wheel, and so forth. From this knowledge, one can apply a system of learning to create an experience that reflects understanding.

But in the supernatural world (yes, I said it), things function quite the opposite. At least, I am finding from my application of Truth, of “getting right with God,” and experiencing God firsthand, that the knowledge base begins to build up in me in direct proportions to my experience in Him. I find that the more I experience God, the more I long to know Him more. And this comes to me for one simple reason: the Counselor has been sent on my behalf.

In my intellectual days I tried to understand the concept of the Trinity from a knowledge standpoint. As an analytical over-thinker, the best I could do to come up with an explanation was this (and you have no idea how proud I was for coming to this realization!):

When God spoke in the Old Testament, He spoke as God the Father as a really loud, booming voice, a burning bush, a pillar of smoke or fire, or any number of other signs. Old Testament people were simple people. They needed straightforward literal word from God and, in order to speak back, they chose to inherit a system of rules (all of our favorite books: Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy) by which they could earn God’s favor and presence.

When God spoke in the transition between Old and New Testament, he spoke as Jesus, who emptied Himself of his “God qualities” and came to earth as a fully human man. Through His conversations with God, He brought God’s word into the world through his discourses and his actions (both tied directly together). This second part of the Trinity was flesh and blood, and people could hear God speak when Jesus opened His mouth.

In modern times, New Testament times, God speaks through the Holy Spirit – the “Counselor” – who Jesus says in these passages, requires His departure before he will come to the people. I always explained (to myself and, sadly, to others… still with enthusiasm) that because there is only ONE Jesus, as He was a man, and He is presently seated in Heaven at the right side of God the Father, once Jesus left the earth it was required that someone else occupy a seemingly infinite space, if God were truly to be with us. Once Jesus “checked out,” another form of God must “check in” or else we are left godless. Thus, the Holy Spirit.

I thought I was magnificently enlightened, until I realized that my understanding of the knowledge of this principle interfered with my experience with the Living God. In this case, the three “persons” of God were still separate to me, and I was missing a huge piece of experiencing God in whole.

Lately, however, my world has been completely changed. Since I abandoned the search for knowledge in exchange for experience, I have witnessed firsthand (and most delightfully) the immeasurable peace, joy, and love that comes from the presence of the Holy Spirit in me. And I realize in these moments, even now, that apart from this presence in me, I have no understanding of God and His infinite love.

The Counselor reveals Truth in our spirit. He speaks beneath the language of our brain and what we think, deeper than the emotions of our heart and what we feel, and even deeper than the unique characteristics of our soul and what we think we want and desire. The Counselor speaks to a part of us that is truly only aware once we have become Christians: our spirit.

“And you were also included in Christ, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. Having believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit” (Ephesians 1:13)

When we became (become!) Christians, we receive a guarantee that our eternity will be spent with God. That promise of eternity is the “seal” that Jesus promised us in John 16, which comes through the Holy Spirit. And I can say, from my firsthand experience (and in accordance with Paul’s enthusiasm throughout the epistles), that once this occurs, our lives are never the same.

It doesn’t matter what intellect tries to say. There is no explanation, but what Jesus says above, that through His death and resurrection we receive new life – our sins are forgiven – and if we choose to believe this, our spirits are aligned with God’s Spirit. And God only does this through the power of the Holy Spirit, which Jesus promised us after his departure. And, as the disciples were filled with grief when Jesus said that he must go, it is with joy that we should welcome God’s Spirit into our own!

I cry frequently now, and am unashamed. There are things I feel myself sensitive to that I was never sensitive to before. There are things I choose to walk away from that before I would run toward. And, not that I am perfect, but there is a new me within me, a transformational me that has new desires and new joys. A me that desires God’s presence, as David cried out, “One thing I ask of the Lord, this is what I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all of the day of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to seek him in his temple” (Psalm 27:4).

And I believe that His Spirit is transforming me. It is a slow process. And it sucks sometimes as I cling to what I have known for 31 years of my life. But as I invite God’s Spirit with mine, I find that peace that passes understanding, and all I long to do is to dwell in this moment. And how I crave this presence, as a drunk might crave his alcohol, or a baby might crave his mother’s love and affection!

The great news is, one day I will dwell in this eternally. The bad news is, there are so many people who will not, unless they learn the Truth of the Gospel.

So, as we are convicted of our sin, righteousness, and judgment, I find myself convicted of something else. That, while I cannot explain in these words or any other what Jesus has already said in John 16, there is a peace and love that the world must know because there is nothing in the world that will ever compare to the peace and love that comes in being filled with the Holy Spirit… and somehow I have to get the word out… because this is definitely something you don’t want to miss out on…