Monday's Thought of the Day !!

And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit, who lives in you. – Romans 8:11 (NIV)

If the Holy Spirit lives in us we will have life, not just in Heaven, but right now.  But what does this mean?  Does it mean that the Holy Spirit is what keeps our pulse going, our hearts beating, our lungs expanding our brain functioning?  

What Paul wants us to understand is that God's Holy Spirit is what gives us life worth living.  When we have the Holy Spirit within us, we have meaning because we are doing what we were created to do.  We were created with the purpose of connecting to God in a relationship of sacrificial love. It's only then that we will be totally complete.  Nothing else in this world will give us true life.

So what does this mean for us?  Will we be happy all the time?  For a select few it seems like it.  These are the ones who've submitted their lives so totally to God that even when they're persecuted or go through trials they see it as a time of leaning on Christ.  This doesn't happen overnight though.  It comes with surrendering more and more daily.  But with our surrendering and emptying ourselves of the world, more room is made for God to come in.  

Maybe you're not there yet and you struggle like most of us with trials and hardships.  Think about how much worse they would be if you did not have the Holy Spirit in you because you had not let Jesus into your heart.  There would be no Rock, no Foundation to lean on.  Think about how you would grieve loved ones who've died.  There would be no hope for them after they are gone...or you either.

Jesus came to bring life and through the Holy Spirit we can receive that life.  Let us surrender more and more until we've got so much life in us that every moment can be one of joy...even when things are difficult for us to get through.

In the love of Christ,

greg