Growing in the Spirit

Have you ever thought about how much you learned from your parents?  I’d be willing to bet that it’s much more than we can imagine.  How many sons learned how to work on a car, throw or hit a ball,  mow the lawn, or build a treehouse from their fathers?  How many daughters learned how to sew or knit, put on makeup, play with baby dolls, or dress up from their mothers?  And of course, most sons learn what it means to be a man from their fathers and daughters learn what it means to be a woman from their mothers.

Naturally, all the above are broad generalizations.  Daughters learn things from their fathers and sons learn things from their mothers as well.  For example, my dad taught me how to drive with a stick shift, how to ride a bike, how to shovel the driveway, and how to take care of the trash.  On the other hand, my mom taught me how to wash and dry dishes, how to fold the laundry, and how to keep my room cleaned up.  

But what we learn from our parents goes far beyond just the normal daily household routines.  We also pick up many of our tastes and traits from them too.  My interest in sports and history certainly came from my dad, but my interest in the things of God were rooted in my mom’s dedication to church.  And I’m sure I got my competitive nature from my dad and teaching spirit from my mom.  I think I got my work ethic from both, but I have no idea where I got my lame sense of humor from.

The beauty of what I just described is that it forms a picture of what life is like in the family of God.  As we discovered in last week’s article, God does not leave us as orphans.  Instead, He gives us His Holy Spirit to lead us through this life.  How does he do this?  Let’s take a look.

One thing the Holy Spirit does for believers is teach them.  Jesus told his disciples as much shortly before his death on the cross. He wanted to assure them that what they had learned from him was not all that they would learn.  There were more truths that would be revealed, and it was the Holy Spirit who would reveal them.  As he told them in John 16:13, “But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all the 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.”

Paul further elaborates on this in his first letter to the Corinthians.  As he pointed out to them, “What we have received is not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may understand what God has freely given us.”  (1 Corinthians 2:12)  In other words, everything we know about God – His love and all that He has done for us and given us – is made known to us by the Holy Spirit.  As Paul said in the next verse, it is the Spirit that teaches us “spiritual realities.”

This includes helping us understand the Scriptures.  As Paul explained, “The person without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God but considers them foolishness, and cannot understand them because they are discerned only through the Spirit.”  (1 Corinthians 2:14)  Because we have the mind of Christ (v. 16), which is the Holy Spirit living inside us, the meaning of the Scriptures are brought to light more and more over time.  The more we seek, the more light we receive.  That’s not only true of seeking to understand the Scriptures but is also true of understanding more about Christ.  The Holy Spirit sees to it.

A second thing the Holy Spirit does for believers is give them spiritual gifts.  The gifts are many and various, but he distributes them as he sees fit.  (1 Corinthians 12:4; Hebrews 2:4)  To some he gives the gift of teaching.  To others the gift of prophecy.  And to still others the gifts of healing, administration, service, encouragement, giving and more.  All the gifts of the Spirit are given for the common good (1 Corinthians 12:7) so that the body of Christ would be built up and all believers would reach maturity and unity in our knowledge of Jesus.  (Ephesians 4:12-13)

But spiritual gifts are not the only thing the Holy Spirit gives to believers.  He also gives life (2 Corinthians 3:6), wisdom and understanding, (Colossians 1:9), joy (1 Thessalonians 1:6) and power, love, and self-discipline (2 Timothy 1:7).  All these gifts are given not only for the benefit of the individual believer but also for the benefit of others in the family of God.  It is like brothers and sisters who are given wonderful gifts from their parents.  Instead of using them for their own purpose, they use them to help each other.  As a result, the entire family is strengthened and the love they have for one another is evident to all who know them.  That kind of family love would be attractive to anyone thirsting for it in an otherwise empty and vain world.

A third thing the Holy Spirit does is sanctify believers (2 Thessalonians 2:13, 1 Peter 1:2).  Combined with the teaching and gift-giving, this is what brings about change in our lives.  As we learn to listen to the Spirit and follow where he leads, we will respond less and less to the desires of the flesh (Galatians 5:16).  Instead, we will find ourselves beginning to bear the fruit Jesus referred to when he encouraged his disciples to remain in him (John 15:5).  And if you’ve been a believer for a while, you probably already know the fruit of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control (Galatians 5:22-23).  In other words, we will begin to exhibit an increasing amount of the characteristics of Christ.

Those are just a few examples of what the Holy Spirit does to help Christians live their new life in Christ.  As you can clearly see, God is a Father who cares about His children and loves them intensely.  Like good earthly parents, He doesn’t just bring us to new birth and stop there.  Through His Spirit, he teaches us, gives us indescribable gifts, and helps us grow and thrive.  And like how children tend to take on some of the traits and characteristics of their earthly parents, so believers over time also take on the traits and characteristics of their Savior.  So to echo the words of Paul, “Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit” (Galatians 5:25).