Click here to go ot the Scripture: 2 Corinthians 3:4-17

We’ve read that Jesus has borne our punishment and that now we are part of a new era. Because of this awesome deed of Jesus, we have a different perspective on life. When we look at life, we look through the lens of Jesus’ deed of reconciliation. Paul’s response is: 12With that kind of hope to excite us, nothing holds us back.

Nothing holds me back, he says. I wish I could say the same, because I throw my toys out of the cot too quickly when some little thing that I don’t agree with happens to upset me. When someone is unfair towards me, I immediately want to know, “Why me, Lord?” My car breaks down, a relationship breaks up, someone else gets the job, a loved one dies, a horrible sword hangs over my head, the whole business folds. One wave after another. Why is it possible for Paul to say so easily: Nothing holds me back?

I think it’s because Paul looks at life through the lens of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit enables you to see everything clearly and in perspective. With the help of the Holy Spirit you see the bigger picture and you gradually see how everything fits together. Often this is a process you struggle with and it is not always so easy.

Many times we get to a point where no understanding where no understanding is left and you have to surrender and say: Lord, I don’t understand, but I will keep on believing. You see, some characteristics of God we’ll never understand. It is indeed this mystery about God that allows Him to be God, because if we understood everything about God, He would no longer be God. Then He would have been the same as us – on the same level.

When we wear the lens of the Holy Spirit on our eyes, it becomes possible for us, being at the end of understanding, to turn around with peace and acceptance in our hearts that we will never be able to understand everything.

When we look at our circumstances through the lens of the Holy Spirit, all our problems aren’t solved with a wave of a magic wand. Neither do the pain, hurt nor hardship disappear all at once. But the Holy Spirit provides us with wisdom and insight, He leads us on the right road and takes us by the hand to eventually reach acceptance.

We must live every moment with the knowledge that we are privileged to be part of God’s new world. We must open up and be sensitive to the guidance of the Holy Spirit, because then we can take on the world, then we can stand against any storm. Not because we are so fantastic, but because God’s Holy Spirit goes before us.

Deo Gloria – all the glory to God!

Reflection

What are you afraid of?

How much space do you make for God’s Spirit?

How can you become more focused on the Holy Spirit?

Prayer

Lord, I can take on everything if I walk hand-in-hand with your Holy Spirit. Yes, it’s not easy to face one wave after the other. Even though I say it with a hesitant voice, I do indeed say: With your Spirit at my side I can take on anything. Amen