The Holy Spirit is often the ignored member of the Trinity. We remember to praise the Father for His creation and power and for giving up His Son. We remember to praise Jesus Christ as Lord, our Savior, the one to whom “ever knee will bow” (Phil. 2:10). But it seems like we rarely even talk about the Spirit, much less praise Him. This seems very odd considering the words of Jesus Christ Himself. In John 16:7 Jesus addresses the disciples sorrow at His going away:

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“Nevertheless, I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you.”

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Sometimes I will think to myself how amazing it must have been to walk with Jesus Christ during His time on earth. More than that, I even have the pride to think how easy it would have been to trust God if I was actually able to see the physical Jesus. Yet here, in John 16, Jesus says that Christians today have an advantage over the people who lived with Him. Today, Christ has sent us a Helper – The Holy Spirit. What is the role of this great Helper, the Spirit? I think Romans 8 gives us the biggest  picture of how much the Spirit truly does for us. He sets us free (v. 2), gives us life and peace (v. 5-6, 11), dwells within us (v. 9), raised Christ from the dead (v. 11), helps us put sin to death (v. 13), leads us as Sons of God (v. 14), bears witness for us before God (v. 16), helps us in our weakness (v. 26), and intercedes for us with “groaning too deep for words” (v. 26-27). What a great Helper we have! Look at what He does, and yet we often overlook Him. How much must God care for us to give us this great power to live within us? There is a special person of the Godhead whose very purpose is to lead us, guide us, and even plead for us and intercede for us before the Father! He is our great lawyer. He is our protector. The Spirit takes every feeble prayer we have and brings it to the Father on our behalf. He is our very life. Christians are quick to cling to Christ for life, which is a very good thing, but yet we often fail to realize that we cannot have Christ without first having the Spirit.

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“The wizard [of Oz] says look inside yourself and find self. God says look inside yourself and find [the Holy Spirit]. The first will get you to Kansas. The latter will get you to heaven. Take your pick.” – Max Lucado

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In the book of Ephesians, Paul points out that the Spirit has another purpose. There is an “untold” power of the Holy Spirit. At least, something I had never considered before. We need the Holy Spirit to empower us in order to even begin to understand the depth of Christ’s love for us. Paul says,

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“For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith – that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.” – Ephesians 3:14-19

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For us to understand the love of Christ, we need the power of the living Spirit residing within us. Christ’s love is a love that is so far beyond our knowledge. This can teach us something important about ourselves. We are so small and so weak and so dependent upon God. But, as Robert Murray M’Cheyne said, “For every look at self, take ten looks at Christ.” Yes, our inability to understand Christ’s love points us to our weakness. But once we’ve considered that, we must ten times more consider what it says about Christ. How great a love He must have! Only the power of God will allow us to comprehend it! It is not God’s wrath, or His holiness, or even His eternality that Paul draws attention to (though certainly we need the Spirit to enlighten us in those things too). Rather, it is Christ’s great love. I believe that God’s wrath is coming for sinners who fail to put their trust in Jesus Christ. I believe God is so holy we should shake in a righteous fear before Him. But I also believe in the great love Christ showed for us on the cross. The wrath of God was poured out on His Son. We have been set free. Our sin is no longer counted against us. The wrath of God is gone for God’s elect, and the righteousness of Christ has been credited to our account. We are holy in His sight. God’s wrath is no longer coming for us. His love, however, is coming for us relentlessly.