Have you ever sat on a three-legged stool where one of the legs was shorter than the other two? I’m not easily annoyed, but I find wobbly 3-legged stools distracting. I don’t own any of these stools, so the only time I sit on one is if I’m visiting someone. The moment I sit down, I know I’ve got a challenge because a wobbly stool is so distracting that I find it quite difficult to follow our conversation.
Wobbly Theology
When it comes to our relationship with God, I think we sometimes create a wobbly stool. We embrace the truth of the Trinity of God. We pray to Father God and talk with Jesus, but we don’t always know what we should be doing with the Holy Spirit.
In the Apostle Paul’s benediction, found in 2 Corinthians 13:14, we read, “May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.“
First, notice the order Paul used for the Triune God – Son, Father, Spirit. This order is different from most accounts (2 Corinthians 1:2;), and the Holy Spirit led Paul to do this. Paul is saying that there is equality within God. We find no wobbly stool in God.
In our Scripture, Paul begins with the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, we receive the love of God through the grace of Jesus Christ. We have fellowship with the Holy Spirit through the love of God, because of the grace of Jesus Christ. Our understanding of this completeness in God is how we avoid a wobbly theology.
Now, in my experience, I have met many Christians that carry a wobbly stool with them. When they speak of the things of God, they fumble a bit, for they tend to leave the Holy Spirit out of their thoughts. In truth, their faith in God is wobbly. Christ and the Father are fully understood and acknowledged, but the leg of the Holy Spirit is shorter. He is not ignored. It’s just that the believer doesn’t know what to do with the Holy Spirit. That creates wobbly faith, and none of us want that.
The Shy Person of God
Sometimes the Spirit is referred to as the shy Person of God. This perspective is because many references in the Bible show the Holy Spirit pointing us to Jesus, which is His ministry in this world, today. However, He has a very active role in the lives of believers.
When we pray, we can (should) ask the Holy Spirit to direct our prayer. The Triune God should be active as we pray. The Holy Spirit will help us remember people and circumstances that we need to bring to Father God. He will reveal things in us that need to be dealt with. The Holy Spirit will also reveal to us things we would never have considered, which require prayer. I could go on, but let’s move ahead.
As today’s Scripture reveals, we should be in fellowship with the Holy Spirit. He (not it) desires a profoundly personal, deeply impactful relationship with you.
I am going to continue this wobbly stool idea in my next blog post. For now, “The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you; the Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace.” (Numbers 6:24-26) – Amen
Photo credit: neil cummings on Visualhunt.com / CC BY-SA
You may like:
https://rockexcavationservice.org/2019/09/03/security-certificate/