All That We Need
I wonder whether, like me, you ever envy what the disciples had. Literally sitting across the table from Jesus here. Talking with him face to face. Prodding him every now and then to check he’s really there. Prodding themselves every once in a while to check that this is all in fact very real.
Or perhaps, like me, you’ve been on the receiving end of a friend saying, ‘If only Jesus was here, right now, then I would put my faith in him…’
Hear Jesus’ words to us in this:
“Very truly I tell you, it is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Advocate will not come to you.”
Did you hear it? Did you catch what he said? It is for their good that he’s going. Why? So that the Spirit can come. Without Jesus going to the cross, the Spirit would not come. And without the Spirit, there would be no hope. Why? Here we see it’s for two astounding works that the Spirit accomplishes:
Firstly, he convicts the world of their need for Jesus. This is something only the Spirit can do. I can talk to family and friends for as long as I want to about the riches of the gospel, and their need for Christ, but until the Spirit works in their hearts, it’s a fruitless endeavour. We need the Spirit to do his convicting work.
But secondly, in guiding the apostles into all the truth, the Spirit gives us all that we will ever need, in the Bible. We’re not missing anything. We’re not waiting for an extra word of revelation. And it was only a couple of chapters ago, that we were hearing Jesus wax lyrical about how powerful this Spirit filled word is as it accomplishes God’s work here on earth.
So where does this leave us? The more I hear these words, and believe them, the quicker I can be to repent of any misplaced envy. Because the truth of the matter is, I have all I need. My friend may still think they need Jesus to physically sit down beside them to believe. But I can confidently question that belief, and suggest opening the Bible with them instead, trusting the Spirit to do his heart changing, life altering work.
