Trust, Learn, and Obey
Understanding comes with maturity
John 16:12 "I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. 13 When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth; for he will not speak on his own, but will speak whatever he hears, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. 14 He will glorify me, because he will take what is mine and declare it to you. 15 All that the Father has is mine. For this reason I said that he will take what is mine and declare it to you.
We have a birthday tradition that has become everyone who wants it; that of buying and breaking a piñata. For those, especially children, who have never had that experience, it is a scary one. The design of the piñata usually catches their attention, but the next step is the frightening one. "You take this stick and you hit it as hard as you can, to break it!" The child must be thinking, "You bought 'My Little Pony,' my favorite cartoon character, the one I love, and you want me to hit her/him as hard as I can, to break him/her?" Pretty much. What the children don't know, and I suppose for some this does not necessarily make it better, that the piñata is filled with candy. Once broken, the kids make a mad dash for it, pushing each other out of the way, fighting each other for Tootsie Rolls. Why did I choose this illustration for today's text? I don't know. It probably makes it as clear as the disciples must have felt as they heard Jesus explain the Holy Spirit to them.
Jesus says that they had a lot yet to learn, but He was not going to share it all at one time. Jesus knew that the more they heard at one time, the more they would forget. But, Jesus says, there will arrive the Holy Spirit, a person in the Godhead (part of the Trinity; Father, Son, Holy Spirit), who will guide you into all the truth, meaning, your education and walk with me will continue in this new fashion. The Holy Spirit will hear from God and will share that which he hears, and reveal and teach you as you journey with me. Jesus adds that the Holy Spirit will glorify Him, because he will teach the disciples in that which the disciples did not know at that point. And Jesus knew that after the crucifixion and resurrection, the questions about Him would increase, and the answers would be needed from Him. The making of new disciples would require being spiritually led by Jesus and it would be done by the Holy Spirit. Christ wanted them to mature in their faith so that they could share that faith with new believers.
Discipleship is never ending. Some of what we encounter on our journey make not make sense or it may seem difficult, yes, we may even have to break some spiritual "piñatas", but once we do, the greater thing, the sweetness of discipleship will be ours. What piñatas you encounter will take many shapes and may be held as sacred or traditional or territorial, but be guided by the Spirit to the newness and the sweetness of faith.
PRAYER: Journey with me, Dear God. Help me mature in my understanding and discipleship. Help me to make new disciples. Guide me through Your Spirit; this I pray in Christ Jesus, amen.
Have a great and blessed day in the Lord!
Eradio Valverde
