Living Without Fully Understanding

   I confess that I do not understand about the Holy Spirit. I can read what the Bible says about this third person of the Trinity, but most of the time it is just words on the page. I can read what Jesus says in John 16 about this Spirit's work and catch a glimpse of the meaning, but it is hard to feel that He is active in my life.

   Looking at what Jesus tells His disciples about the Spirit and His role, I read in verse 13, "He will guide you into all truth" and in verse 15, "He will take what is mine (Jesus') and declare it unto you".

   From these two verses, I understand that this same Spirit will guide my thoughts into what is really true, and that I will understand the words of Jesus, because He will take them and make them plain to me. It is this same person who has preserved the words of Jesus so that these same words could be written down by the Gospel writers, and brought them to their minds at the time they wrote their accounts.

   I believe that the words that we have written down in the Bible are true, that they have been preserved over the centuries so that they can speak to me today just as they spoke to the believers in the first century church, as well as to the subsequent generations of Christ followers in the years between.

   I also believe that this same Spirit does more than just authenticate the words of Jesus, but works in my life to help me apply them to my particular situation. I believe it, but I do not understand it.

   But it is more than just right knowledge that I need, it is also the application of that in my life at the proper time and with the right attitude. The ESV version of I Corinthians 13:2 reads: "And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing."

   I can acknowledge the work of the Holy Spirit in my life, even if I do not understand all about it, but even this has to be tempered with the realization that everything that He lets me know is to be used to bless others, by the way that I live it out in my life on a daily basis.

   Today even?