“Be filled with the Spirit.”
The Spirit-Counselor that Jesus sends doesn’t keep office hours in the city. The Spirit moves in! Sits in my lounge room, takes over my TV, reads my magazines and sleeps in my bed. Uses my computer, visits my facebook, explores my bank account and has opinions about most everything I do. If it is not right or doesn’t foster peace or kills joy, the Spirit gets rid of it.
Don’t get me wrong. The Holy Spirit is kind. Like God’s gardener at work in our lives, the Spirit is all about what’s eternally best for me and for you. But you can count on this: a relentless determination to take over. If, that is, you want to be “filled”.
A kookaburra and her mate tried to move into the possum box in our garden recently. Problem was the box was already filled. A possum had been living there for some months – a possum with no holiday plans or visions of up-sizing to another neighbourhood. The squabble was loud and lasted more than a week. It was entertaining to watch. The possum won. No displacement. No change.
I’m keen to be filled with the Spirit. I know that it leads to character growth and spiritual power. But I also know that it involves displacement. Being filled means being emptied again and again. That is our challenge.
And this is what helps me. I remember that its not a possum at home in me but something more like a feral rat. And the Spirit who comes is a gift from the creator whose laugh never mocks and whose help never fails. I say bring on the Spirit.
Questions:
- What gives you courage to seek the Spirit's filling?
- What gets in your way?
Scripture: John 14:15-27, Rom 8:1-17, 14:17, Act 2:1-12,39
