And
I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Comforter, that He may
abide with you forever— the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive,
because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with
you and will be in you.
John
14:16-17
And
do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, in whom you were sealed for the day of
redemption.
Ephesians
4:30
Come,
O Creator Spirit blest,
And
in our souls take up Thy rest;
Come,
with Thy grace and heavenly aid,
To
fill the hearts which Thou hast made.
Great
Comforter, to Thee we cry;
O
highest gift of God most High,
O
Fount of life, O Fire of love,
And
sweet anointing from above!
Rhabanus
Maurus ~800AD
St.
Paul is charging the Ephesians to be careful not to forget or to despise some of
the common duties of everyday life. He is telling them to speak the truth, to
beware of foolish talking, to be industrious and honest, kind and charitable,
to put away bitterness and evil-speaking, to be slow to take offence, and ready
to forgive…. He gives no new commandment, but he tells of a glorious guide. He
speaks of a tender love which is watching us anxiously as we go up and down in
the business or the pleasures of the day, of a Friend who has marked us out for
the “day of redemption,” and is disappointed in us, grieved, distressed when we
turn our backs upon Him and treat Him lightly. For such seems to be the meaning
of the text—“Do not give pain to One who so loves you. He has come to your
rescue, He has sealed you for a blessing; therefore, I beseech you, grieve Him
not.”
Scripture does not
shrink from speaking of God as being capable of feelings which for us can be
represented only under human forms of emotion: God is represented as “being
pleased,” as “joying,” as “delighting” in the love and obedience of His people,
and He is also represented as “grieved,” “offended,” “angry,” “alienated,” by
their sin; and we need not hesitate to follow where the Bible leads us.
The Holy Spirit is
always with us, a constant companion, and nothing is hid from Him. In this He
witnesses to us the omnipresence of God; He makes God’s existence real to us,
wherever we happen to be. Do we speak a word? It falls upon the Spirit’s ear,
as well as upon the ear of the person to whom we speak. Do we perform any
action, good or bad? The Holy Spirit sees it and records it. Do we even think a
thought? That thought is mirrored in the multitudinous mind of the Divine
Spirit. We cannot escape from His presence.
…The imagery
employed to describe Him and His influence on mankind is of the gentlest
possible character. We have, for instance, the dew that descends silently from
heaven, the rain that comes down upon the mown grass, the wind that rustles the
leaves of the trees, or that sweeps away the clouds from the fair face of the sky;
and if, as is once the case, the coming of this supernatural Guest is
symbolized by the fire and the tornado, the fire is that which gleams in
harmless flame over the thoughtful brows of the first Christian disciples
gathered together in the rough upper room; and the tornado is that which
overthrows and destroys nothing, but only announces, by an over-powering sound,
the presence of God, and bids the people assemble together to listen to His
overtures of mercy. The Holy Spirit, then, is emphatically gentle and tender
and kind…. And when we know the gentleness of the Spirit in His dealing with
us, surely we shall deal gently with others.
JAMES HASTINGS
The
Great Texts of the Bible
No comments:
Post a Comment