Good Saturday morning! The snow has stopped for the moment and the links are cooking on the stove. Hot coffee is ready and the cats are fed. Sounds like a good start to the morning. Another friend has broken out of that place on the hill and I feel like celebrating. Anyone feel like a pizza and a party at 0730 on a Saturday? I may be a little out of sync with the world. Back in the day the only ones still partying at 0730 were those who had not yet passed out from too much alcohol in their bodies. On the other hand, I can't help my feelings. I am so happy for my friend, and yet, he will be leaving the area much like the last few who have gone. I am glad and sad, but mostly glad for his sake. What if a person you love is in a situation that is bad for him, but you can do nothing to get him out of it? What if that person thinks that he is in a good situation and cannot see the harm his circumstances are doing to him?
Actually, that pretty much describes everyone who has not given themselves to Jesus. We can tell our friends the Good News of Jesus Christ, but only the Spirit can move them to surrender to Jesus. Most of the time it would be easier to argue, browbeat or hornswaggle a person into believing that red is actually green than to convince someone to believe in Jesus. We just don't have the right words in our own strength to save anyone. The Spirit knows exactly what needs to be said and does give us the right words. The Spirit also touches the sore spots on the heart of a person who does not yet believe in Jesus. The Spirit is very good at this too. At times, I still feel the touch of the Spirit, that little whisper of "this area of your life is not right with God," and it hurts and humbles me. A person who does not believe in Christ will have a most difficult time with this. Imagine a wound that won't heal on its own and someone keeps touching it, painful no? Those sore spots on the heart can only be healed when a person surrenders and gives himself totally to Jesus.
Our words from the Spirit may not be an immediate relief to someone still in the world. The words may hurt and that person we love may react defensively to the hurting. A friend you have known all of your life might react harshly to a note of love you wrote to him. A best buddy or partner might turn her back on you because of the words of life given to you by the Spirit of God. But your salvation has given you a point of view that they do not have. You and I can see that the circumstances of sin are not good for our friends, but we cannot make them leave the frying pan they know for what seems to be a blank unknown from their point of view. We need the Holy Spirit to help them make the right decision, just as you and I needed the Spirit's help when we made the decision to believe in and surrender to Jesus, the Son of God.
Don't give up hope for those you love, trust in Jesus to save them!
Bucky
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