I have been blessed with wonderful in-laws. They love me deeply, and they show it. They also pour out their love on my children.
One of the ways in which they do this is to invite the kids to come stay with them each summer during the week their church holds Vacation Bible School. The kids not only get to attend a quality VBS program, but they get a special week on their own with Grandma and Pampa. During the week, they get to do all kinds of things with their grandparents—make cookies, play the Wii (we don’t have one, so this is an extra treat), go on day trips to places they’ve never been.
This year, when VBS week rolled around, I drove the children to their grandparents’ home to drop them off. I planned on staying overnight (they live 4.5 hours away, non-stop) and leaving the next morning.
As I was getting my few things packed up that next day, I paused for a moment, thinking about what else needed to be done. Kenny, who was standing near me, said, “You know, Mom, that even though I won’t be with you this week, my heart will always be with you.”
My heart was touched. I thanked him, hugged him, and told him how much I would miss him. I reminded him that he is a great kid, and that every day, because I wouldn’t be there to say it, I wanted him to imagine me telling him, “Kenny, you’re a great boy.”
Kenny grinned and hugged me back.
It was a sweet, precious moment—Kenny wanting to make sure I knew that he loved me, even though he wouldn’t be there in person to express it.
God did something very similar in sending the Holy Spirit to His disciples. Jesus knew—and He explained to them—that He was going back to heaven, back to the right hand of the Father. He knew they wouldn’t be able to see Him anymore, yet would still need to hold onto the things He had said to them. He told them the Holy Spirit, whom the Father would send, would remind them of everything—including the fact that He loved them deeply.
In other words, God the Father made provision for the disciples to continue to feel Jesus’ love for them even when He was no longer physically present.
As Christians, you and I have the same Holy Spirit today. The Holy Spirit is not some nebulous Being—He is a very real Person who lives in the heart of each Christian, of you and me. And part of the reason why He lives there is to remind us how much God loves us.
One day, we will see God face to face, and we will believe His love and begin the eternity-long process of comprehending it. But until then, we need to hear about God’s love over and over.
If God had done nothing more than allow Jesus to be put to death on the cross for us, even that would have been a far greater expression of love than we deserve. But He also gave us the written Word to remind us of His love, and He gave us the spoken Word (spoken Spirit-to-spirit) to remind us as well. “I will not leave you comfortless”, Jesus says in John 14:18 (KJV). “I will come to you.” And He does, in the Person of His Spirit.
He’s there anytime you need Him. When you feel unloved, when you’re rejected or feeling unwanted, He’s there to minister to you. Pour out your feelings to Him. Then listen for His Spirit within you replying, “My precious child, you are loved far more than you know.”
John 14:25-26—”All this I have spoken while still with you. But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.” (NIV)
