When you think about Jesus, your thoughts needn't be vague or abstract.
You can look back easily to those years when the flesh-and-blood Jesus walked this earth. You remember vivid stories of how he sailed in a boat, spoke to great crowds, went to dinner in people's homes, performed miracles, cried when his friend Lazarus died.
But Jesus has ascended into heaven - and, her you are, left with the Spirit. No offense meant to the Spirit, but when we talk about the Spirit, we often get abstract, shadowy, vague. Even God the Father seems more concrete than the Spirit.
But the Holy Spirit wasn't vague for Paul.
Paul wasn't one of the disciples who witnessed the earthly ministry of Jesus. Paul didn't come on the scene until after Jesus ascended into heaven.
But Paul experienced intensely the continued presence of the Lord through the Spirit. He wrote about the Spirit very frequently in his letters. One would never want to make the mistake of telling Paul that the Spirit was vague or abstract or second-rate.
because the Spirit dwells within you, Christ is more present now than when he was on the boat or standing before the crowd or at people's homes. Through the Spirit, the Lord is with you, wherever you are.
Don't quench the Spirit. Tune in to the Spirit. Can you feel the power of the Spirit within?
- Little White Book, Diocese of Saginaw