These devotionals on the Holy Spirit are delightful and
bringing me into a deeper awareness of what it means to be a Christian.
Apparently, it is easy to get the wrong idea. For
instance, some think that Christians have no fun and are compelled to do things
they do not want to do, something like becoming a robot. This passage has an
element of that ‘robot’ thing in it:
“And I will vindicate the holiness of my great name, which has been profaned among the nations, and which you have profaned among them. And the nations will know that I am the Lord, declares the Lord God, when through you I vindicate my holiness before their eyes. I will take you from the nations and gather you from all the countries and bring you into your own land. I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you. And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules. You shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers, and you shall be my people, and I will be your God.” (Ezekiel 36:23–28)
However, being a child of God is no more about being a
robot than our kids are robots. It is a unity that Tozer tries to illustrate with
heat and a rod of iron, but I relate more easily to water and Kool Aid powder. God
makes us new and His like we put the water and powder together; both obviously
still exist, yet a new thing is created in their unity.
No illustration can perfectly
describe how the Holy Spirit penetrates our spirits. I remain myself, and the
Spirit remains Himself without any destruction of substance as each remains a
separate being as before. As Tozer says, the difference is that now the Spirit
penetrates and fills our personalities and we are experientially one with God. I am in awe of that!
This relationship is
not like the cartoon with an angel on one shoulder and red, fork-wielding devil
on the other either. It is not a split-personality in any shape or form. Instead,
being a child of God is almost like a dual personality, with me listening, the
Spirit listening, both of us chatting and determining what comes next. If I pay
attention, He guides me throughout the entire day, sometimes with humor (or is
that me?) but always with wisdom.
The joy and the
secret of this wonderful intimacy is paying attention. He is always there to
speak, but I can be distracted. For years, most distractions were the idea that
“I can do this myself” but there is nothing like a stint in the hospital (Yes,
I am still in the hospital) to reveal and remove the very last bit of that out
of me. Right now, the distractions are more like forgetting how often I need to
stop for a chat. And this is a real conversation, nothing at all like a text
message!
^^^^^^^^^
Jesus, intimacy with
You involves the Holy Spirit who always speaks of You and glorifies You.
Forgive my slow and stubborn heart for taking so long to really ‘get’ this
because I’ve too often simply had my own agenda. Tonight, I am moving slow, and
for once I see that as a good thing!
NOTE: Tired tonight, but there is hope I can go home tomorrow.
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