What is the Holy Spirit?

"It is that “oh yeah” feeling when you see something like you are seeing it for the first time."

50 days after Jesus ascended to heaven, he appeared to a group of his disciples in the upper room and poured out the Holy Spirit on them.  It was like a mighty rushing of wind that settled on each person with tongues of fire. They went out and spoke to the crowds from all nations gathered in Jerusalem for Pentecost, and everyone heard them in their own language. 3000 people converted to Christianity that day.  What was this thing that could settle on people with such power?

In the trinity, we speak of the father, the son, and the Holy Spirit.  I have heard the Holy Spirit is that thing that causes sight: that thing that causes the Son and the Father to lock eyes, and understand each other.


So too, it causes people see with new eyes, the truth in the Gospel, God in a sunset, and all of creation. The Holy Spirit is that personality that brings clarity.  It brings sight.  Sight to see other human beings the way God sees them, sight to see the world as God sees it.  It is that “oh yeah” feeling when you see something like you are seeing it for the first time. But this bringer of revelation is a personality and he loves beauty in the world and in the people around you.  And he wants to show it to you, if you truly ask for it in your soul. 

Comments

Kofi Fant said…
After I wrote this I went outside the cafe and saw a guy who was down on his luck sitting on the street corner. I went up and asked if he'd like a potbelly sandwich from across the street. Went and got a tuna salad sandwich for him and talked to him a bit. He revealed that he had a chemical imbalance and he was living out of his sisters basement and on a stipend because he couldn't (or his sister couldn't) trust him with money. I just listened because that is what people really need, someone to hear their story. He has the same middle name as my first name, and we bonded a bit over that. God gave me new sight to see him as a person with a story. He probably didn't need my sandwich, but he needed someone to just listen to him.

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