103 posts 5/24/2007 2:26 am
Last Read:
5/24/2007 5:36 pm
|
Why We Are Not To Be Afraid... Part II
Why We Are Not To Be Afraid - Part II
The first of these three promised gifts is the Holy Spirit. Of him Jesus says: “He will teach you everything and remind you of all that ( I ) told you.” So the Holy Spirit role will be to maintain alive in their hearts and even deepen their understanding of the teachings of Jesus, of his, of his examples.
The second gift Jesus promises is peace. Not just any peace, but the kind of peace he calls his peace. It is different from the kind of peace the world can give. He does not explain what exactly is the difference between the two, but we can suspect that his peace is much deeper and more constant than whatever the world calls “peace.”
The third gift that Jesus promises to his disciples and which should help them conquer fear is nothing less than himself, his renewed and mysterious presence in their hearts after he would have physically disappeared from their midst. It is precisely because the disciples will experience the constant presence of Jesus in their hearts that they will be delivered from fear and know peace.
These three gifts of Jesus–the Holy Spirit, his peace, and his abiding presence–are not reserved to the twelve apostles, of course, but are offered to all disciples of Jesus. Now, the Holy Spirit is not the spirit of fear but a spirit of confident trust in our heavenly Father’s providence (cf. Rom 8:15 ). Of itself alone, the presence of the Spirit in us should banish fear. How much more can it achieve this result when it is coupled with the presence of Jesus in the believer’s heart. These two presence, along with the gift of Christ’s peace should desolve all fear–provided, of course, our hearts do not contain something which prevents the three gifts of Jesus from having their effect. That something could be anything; sinful habit, sinful relationship, a lack of prayer, and so on.
|
365 Days with the Lord
|
