Wednesday, September
6, 2017
“Anyone who isn’t with me opposes me, and anyone who isn’t
working with me is actually working against me.
“So I tell you, every sin and blasphemy can be forgiven—except blasphemy
against the Holy Spirit, which will never be forgiven. Anyone who speaks against the Son of Man can
be forgiven, but anyone who speaks against the Holy Spirit will never be
forgiven, either in this world or in the world to come. Matthew 12:30-32(NLT)
And when he comes,
he will convict the world of its sin, and of God’s righteousness, and of the
coming judgment. The world’s sin is that
it refuses to believe in me. John 16:8-9(NLT)
These two
passages say a number of important things, not only to the church, but to all
people. If there is such a thing at all as
sin, being forgiven is
of such importance anyone in his right mind would move heaven and earth to
discover how to be forgiven!
Blasphemy
is sin against the Holy Spirit of God (rejection of what the Spirit says is sin and what the Spirit says
is holy). Among the list of what that includes is,
chiefly, when people reject what Jesus did, dying our death penalty, so that
our sins can be forgiven. Matthew, the
tax collector-turned evangelist, says that Jesus said a person who rejects
Jesus the Son is rejected by the Father in this world and the next. Sobering thought!
Another
important message about the Holy Spirit’s ministry in John’s Gospel is that the
chief purpose of the Spirit moving and working among humans is to reprove, or
convict us of all which separates us from God...namely, our sins; and chiefly…our
unbelief!
If you mention
the Holy Spirit in a church crowd you can get mixed reaction. There are those who don’t want you to mention
the Spirit…ever! Among those leaning to
the charismatic (gift-centered) side, when you talk about the Spirit there will
be a knowing smile of all that knowledge about how the spiritual gifts work;
they just can’t get enough about all the gifts being operational in their own
life and in the life of their church.
And then, In true 21st century-style human combativeness
there are plenty of people on the other side of that fence who will gladly
defend against all that loving-the-gift-better-than-the-giver
stuff! There is, after all, nothing we
love better than fighting over who God loves most!
What’s
ironic is that arrogant, combative, brother-separating-from-brother
attitude is exactly the issue to which the Spirt came to speak conviction into
our hearts. After all, was it not a
brother who first picked up a stone and separated himself from his brother permanently? When
Jesus ascended back to the Father in Heaven, and the Spirit came on the Day of
Pentecost, it was so that we could have our blinded eyes opened to how much God
truly does love us; it was so we would understand that God’s invitation to come
close to Him is in spite of our weakness, not because of any goodness or
strength we possess. God’s love is for
anyone who will lay down that nonsense of human independence and recognize our
need in Christ, and our need to love and trust each other.
For You Today
You will
have an opportunity today to go in one of two directions. One direction will be to resist the Holy
Spirit, and that will include such things as anger, pride, jealousy, envy,
lust, or one of a thousand other ways to separate you from God’s love.
The other
direction is to listen to the ways His Spirit leads you into righteousness, how
He teaches you to give control of all you do, say, and even think, to the Spirit
who wants to stay closer to you than that arthritis you live with.
You chew on
that as you hit the Rocky Road…have a blessed day!
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