Not Left as Orphans

Years ago, we were going to a new church. When it came time to head home one evening, we could not find our 22 month old son. He had been with us just a few moments earlier, but as they were turning off the lights and closing up the building, Zach was nowhere to be found. This was new turf for him. He didn't know his way around. We didn't know his favorite places in the building. All the lights, except a few in the foyer, were off.

Donna and I were frantic! What if he made it to the street with it already dark outside? Where could he be? How had he gotten away so quickly? Why wasn't he crying if the lights had been turned off on him?

I went out and began a search of the parking lot and the street. Donna began a search through all the classrooms in the children's wing. She found him in a classroom with the lights off but with a window that let the light from the parking lot outside filter in through the window. Zach was perfectly happy playing with a few toys in near total darkness as he talked and sang unaware of his crazed parents looking for him.

Most of us know the terror of a child being momentarily lost or of our being lost and left alone as a child with our parents desperate to find us. Adults left behind can be even more painful — being left at the altar, being left alone in ER after a loved one has passed, being left to pay the bills after a business partner has stolen funds, being left by a rebellious child who has run away from home determined to leave behind all the values we hold dear, or being left alone after having been served divorce papers by an officer of the court.

Jesus' disciples were about to be left behind by their Lord. So Jesus shared with them some of the most beautiful and comforting words ever recorded:

[Jesus said,] "Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in me. My Father's house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am (John 14:1-3).

As beautiful as these words can be in times of death, the question remains: "What do we do when we feel alone today?" Jesus' words of comfort didn't stop with the promise that he is preparing a place for us with the Father and coming back to take us home with him. Jesus makes the following promises based upon the Holy Spirit's coming to us and living in us:

• "I will not leave you as orphans, I will come to you" (John 14:18).
• "I too will love [you] and show myself to [you]" (John 14:21).
• "My Father will love [you], and we will come to [you] and make our home with [you]" (John 14:23).
• "But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you" (John 14:26).

Because of the Holy Spirit within us, Jesus reminds us that we will never be alone. The Spirit will live in us and make our heart the home for "all the fullness of God" living within us (Ephesians 3:16-19). We are never abandoned, forgotten, or on our own. God is not only near, he is also present within us. Until the Father is ready for us to come home to him, He chooses to make his home in each of us! We are never left behind. The Spirit is always there with us, within us, to do God's work and bring God's blessings to us! (For a list of some of the things the Spirit does for us, with us, and through us, see the list at the end of this article.)

Several months ago, I walked out into a field from my truck on a cold, dark, crisp morning two hours before the sun came up. There were no clouds in the sky. It was a new moon so there was no moonlight. The first two hundred yards of my half-mile hike was a bit treacherous, so I used a green light to walk carefully yet not scare the wildlife. Once on an old ranch trail, I turned off the green light and my eyes began to adjust, After four hundred yards, my eyes had adjusted to the darkness and I looked up into the inky black darkness of the moonless sky and was amazed.

The sky was not dark at all. In fact, the deepest "darkness" was still a dull faint glow as billions and billions of stars merged into the night background. When my eyes focused on a few clusters of stars, the background became dark and the stars were everywhere — all sorts of brightness, but everywhere in their dazzling array like diamonds under a light scattered across black velvet. I had to stop. The Holy Spirit immediately called up the words of Psalm 8:1-5 and I uttered them instinctively out loud — not once or twice, but three or four times, rhythmically repeating them without regard to scaring off the wildlife.

As we look at all the Holy Spirit does for us while indwelling us, we cannot help but be awestruck. Like the shimmering stars in the darkest night sky, there are layers upon layers and grace upon grace to the Spirit's work in us, for us, and through us. What follows is a bit of a visual reminder of SOME of the things the Spirit does for us followed by a list of SOME of the work of the Spirit. Space does not allow us to list them all. I am not wise enough to discern them all.

Suffice it to say, we are left to praise and give thanks for Jesus, who loved us so much he was willing to die for us. Then, he loved us so much as our resurrected Lord that he sent the Spirit to live within us. The Spirit's abiding presence ensures that we are never alone and that we will one day see the Father face-to-face in the place Jesus has prepared for us.