The Holy Spirit – Day 13

I had a wise grandmother who taught me that to tell lies would make God sad, the devil happy and I would always be found out anyway. She was right. When the truth is revealed after people have been lying to each other, it results in a serious, sometimes devastating, breakdown of trust in their relationship; whether it is between friends, husband and wife, parent and child, employer and employee, government and citizen — in fact in every situation in life imaginable where the truth is denied. And only the devil laughs.

The relationship shared by the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit is based on truth. When we consider having a relationship with God, it has to be one of trust and so the same applies. We need the Holy Spirit to guide us through the many different situations that we experience in our everyday lives. This purifies us by enabling us to keep alert and keep a check on our consciences, which then leads to freedom, and peace in our hearts: “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free” (John 8:31-32).

Truth is at the top of the list of qualities needed for trust and is essential in each person in a relationship of worth, but it is a stumbling block to those who do not practise it. It is impossible to relate well to others when they do not tell the truth and this blocks trust.

Jesus emphasizes two fundamentals in the text today: obedience and truth — disciplines that are vital to living with integrity. How does this relate to the Holy Spirit? The Holy Spirit is the “Spirit of truth” who convicts us of right and wrong, but He is also the one who brought every part of Jesus’ life into being in truth: the prophecy concerning His coming, His conception, His baptism, His temptation by the devil in the desert, His resurrection and ascension. The power of the Holy Spirit enabled Jesus to perform miracles, quote Scripture and teach with immeasurable wisdom.

Possibly the best example of the truth of His power is found in Jesus’ raising Lazarus from death — surely what we most need to trust if we are to believe in the resurrection of Jesus and, consequently, our own. We are assured by Scripture: “And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit, who lives in you” (Romans 8:11).