Life's "Explanations"

"I have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear." (John 16:12, NIV)

Wyatt Earp once said to a friend, "The good Lord owes me an explanation of the things that have happened in my life."  Don't be so hard on him.  I can recall many people over the years who have, in one form or another, said the same thing. 

John 16 gives us a little insight into "explanations."  In the context of our passage today our Lord Jesus says, "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.  He will bring glory to me by taking from what is mine and making it known to you.  All that belongs to the Father is mine.  That is why I say the Spirit will take from what is mine and make it known to you."  I see several lessons here.  First, the Holy Spirit, "will guide [us] into all truth."  That is a pretty impressive statement, "all truth."  So there are "explanations" of life which we can know, but they come only in the Holy Spirit.  Second, the Holy Spirit speaks, "only what He hears."  Would to God the Church of today would be so committed.  Third, "He...tell[s us] what is yet to come;" hence, I need not be anxious about tomorrow and unfolding world events.  Whatever happens, I am ready in Christ Jesus, in the Holy Spirit.  The Holy Spirit "informs" and prepares me well.  Fourth, The Holy Spirit, "will glorify Me (NAS)."  This is the "main" purpose of The Holy Spirit, just as it is the "main" purpose of the Son to glorify our Father.  And, according to John 16:14, The Holy Spirit glorifies Jesus by, "He will take of Mine and will disclose it to you." 

"He will take of Mine...."  This is the ministry of the Holy Spirit to you and me, His ministry to the Church, indeed, the world.  Moreover, this is what I must be about in my life time.  If I take of what is mine rather than what is, "of Mine," I am, "a thief and a robber," who, "climbs up some other way," aligned with the one, who comes to "steal, and to kill, and to destroy."  If I take of Jesus Christ's, however, I bring with and in me Him Who is, "Life, and...more abundantly."

Father, in Jesus' Name, the only "explanations" I need is You.  Help me to speak only what I hear, and thereby glorify You.  Amen.
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When an 18 year old Norwegian, "heard the call to evangelize China, on that day he not only emptied his wallet into the collection plate, but included a small note with the words, 'and my life.'"

Looking unto Jesus"
Hebrews 12:2