Knowing the Spirit of Truth in today’s age of media messages…
Let us contemplate the awesome fact that the person of God in the trinity embodies ALL that we need, indeed all of WHO we need. The person of God revealed in the Bible and who we get to know through our experience, directly determines the extent of joy, peace, love, forgiveness and so on we will have in our lives. I often draw comfort from the fact that Jesus is the Prince of Peace.
For instance, when I lose my peace over something - I ask ‘why?’ and ‘where is the Prince of Peace right now?’ Sometimes when I don’t feel at peace it is linked to losing sight of the truth. It is also good to be aware of the fact that our feelings do not determine the truth. God is still Peace, Love, Just, Truth, when we do not feel it, because that is the TRUTH in scripture and the person of Jesus. The facts stay above the feelings. With this in mind I have been exploring and reflecting on what it means to have the advocate, who is the Spirit of Truth, residing in us.
John 15:26 ‘When the Advocate comes, whom I will send to you from the Father - the Spirit of truth who goes out from the Father - he will testify about me. And you also must testify, for you have been with me from the beginning.’
John 16:13 ‘But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come.’
Let me make a confession! I have been, on more occasions than I’d care to admit, bombarded by the news media! The last 8 months or so seems to have put a certain spin on things: increased time at home, worldwide issues such as coronavirus, political events (especially in the US), racial tensions, climate change causing disasters, and so on. Yet this ‘unprecedented’ time should not be an excuse for overindulgence in time hearing the world’s voices and opinions, over time spent hearing my Father God’s voice.
My thoughts come back to the question of what is the truth?, because we are told in scripture that the truth will set us free. My heart and mind want freedom in Christ, the most I can get, with the peace and growth, and bearing of fruit, that comes alongside. So what do we do?
John 8:31-32 To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, ‘If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.’
We must always have the foundational starting point of the basic teachings of Jesus, the tenets of Christianity .. Jesus Christ is the Way, the Truth, the Life. We do not come to Him by works but by faith and through His grace. Our identity is in Him and what he has already won for us on the Cross. Let us be repentant of our sinful ways that keep us from becoming more like him. Let us be in discipleship with him and others to grow in our faith and to be more Christ-like..…
Yet, when it comes to areas of our lives where truth is less black and white and not so easy to discern, the clue is in verse 32. Many things we spend our time, energy, resources on are more nuanced and grey, for instance our political opinions, our persuasions on social and cultural norms and discussions etc. We are his disciples, which means the extent of our relationship and mentee-ship with Christ should hugely inform our knowledge and our experience with the truth, and as an outcome, our freedom.
In times of needing to strengthen ourselves in the Lord we can draw on the depths of our experience with Christ in our discipleship relationship with him, as well as through our discipleship with individuals we trust, to lead us deeper into our knowledge of the Spirit as our Advocate and as the Truth. He intends for us to grow in our understanding of the way he speaks to us, to more deeply discern the difference between conscience and the conviction of the Holy Spirit, alongside the condemnation of Satan.
Knowing the Spirit of Truth surely means that we can take confidence when it comes to those greyer areas (where we don’t have a manual with detailed answers other than the Bible - such as parenting, marriage, or who to vote for in an election?) that can be interpreted differently by perhaps our culture, our background, our age, our temperament. If it is not in contradiction to the truths of scripture, then we have the freedom, alongside the Spirit within us, to discern and decipher as we grow in our walk with the Lord. If we are in that process of working out our salvation, as Philippians 2:12 insinuates we must do, if we are putting on our armour to protect our minds with truth, if we are renewing our minds to become more Christlike, and our hearts are desiring to please the Lord, then we must trust the advocate within us who speaks to us and on our behalf.
1 Corinthians 2:15-16 ‘The person with the Spirit makes judgements about all things, but such a person is not subject to merely human judgements, for, ‘Who has known the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him?’ But we have the mind of Christ.
Don’t let yourself be overwhelmed by the world’s messages, employ good habits and rhythms with your time and routine, and those who influence you. I spend a lot of time reading, for leisure but also for the communications role I have as a job. There is reason to be concerned about what we read and hear, what is truthful, its bias, what sources they are from etc. Sometimes the current days we live in can even seem a little foreboding, for instance, I recently read this quote in an article about the future of truth and misinformation online:
“Experts are evenly split on whether the coming decade will see a reduction in false and misleading narratives online. Those forecasting improvement place their hopes in technological fixes and in societal solutions. Others think the dark side of human nature is aided more than stifled by technology.”
However, we can see these days of increased social media and technology, globalisation increasing the speed and extent to what we hear, as an opportunity for: growth in our relationship with Christ and his discipling of us, maturity in our sensitivity to the voice and promptings of the Holy Spirit, and asking for the gift of discernment.
Likewise, we do not take the grace and freedom we experience in Christ as an excuse for sin, but on the other hand we must not, as the body of Christ, come under a spirit of fear.
2 Timothy 1:7 ‘For the Spirit God gave us does not make us timid, but gives us power, love and self-discipline.’ / ‘For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.’
As we close, be encouraged ‘therefore, to continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfil his good purpose.’ (Philippians 2:12)
Questions:
Give an example of where you recently needed to rely on the Holy Spirit as your guide, to lead you in truth, in a certain situation?
How do you know when your conscience is speaking to you, the Holy Spirit is speaking to you, or Satan is trying to influence or persuade you of something?
Can you share with your group an area in your life you may currently be grappling with, where you would like wisdom and prayer for discernment?
