Wednesday
29th May 2019. Acts
17:15-18:1, Psalm 148 and John 16:12-15
_*“When the Spirit of truth comes, he
will guide you into all the truth.” (John 16:13)*_
Today, Jesus refers to the Holy Spirit as
the Spirit of Truth. As the Spirit of Truth, He not only witnesses to us, he
also leads us to find and discover every truth. The Holy Spirit teaches us
things that are beyond the mere understanding and grasp of our human mind. The
Holy Spirit inspires truth in us.
We live in a world where people are loved
for telling lies and hated for speaking the truth. The spirit of lies is one
demon that has possessed such a vast majority of our population, old and young,
rich and poor alike. The simple reason why we fall too easily into the lie-trap
is that we do not realize the seriousness of the existence of lies in our
lives.
If the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of
Truth, it follows that telling of lies is a sign of his absence in our lives.
No wonder the popular saying goes thus: “Say the truth and shame the devil.”
When we tell lies we actually glorify the devil. When we spread falsehood
deliberately just to incite others or achieve mundane objectives, we are only
making the devil’s work easier.
Jesus tells us: “He (the Holy Spirit)
will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it you.” John 16:14.
Truly, we give glory to God when we speak the truth and act accordingly being
led by the power of the Holy Spirit. Dear friends, we cannot claim to have God
in us and be liars at the same time. Anyone who lies lacks the Spirit of Truth
– the Holy Spirit.
Another sign of the absence of the Holy
Spirit is resistance to the truth. When we find ourselves fighting people
simply because they tell us the truth, we should realize we have distanced
ourselves from God. At times, we shut people down, we even go as far as
planning assassinations, we destroy people’s character and so on all to prevent
the truth from being exposed to light.
The Athenians did not grant audience to
Paul because they couldn’t face the truth. They acknowledged their ignorance by
making an Altar with the inscription: “To An unknown god,” but when Paul tried
to clear their ignorance, they resisted him. Truly, there are some people who
know they are ignorant yet they remain satisfied in their ignorance.
The Athenians did not believe in the
resurrection and they closed their minds to the possibility of this truth. They
cut Paul short the moment he mentioned the issue of rising from the dead. There
are times we know fully well that someone is telling us the truth but instead
of listening, we become so defensive and begin to find faults in the person. We
literally look for a thousand reasons to shut the person down or discredit him/her
all because we cannot stand the truth.
I have come to realize the truth is too
powerful to be hidden. The world may believe lies for a while but one day, like
a volcanic eruption, the truth will force itself out. It is better to suffer
now for being truthful than for people to curse your dead body because of the
lies you told.
Let us pray: Come Holy Spirit, fill our
hearts and enkindle in us your Sacred Fire. Amen.
Be Happy. Live Positive. Have Faith. It
is well with you. God bless you. (Wednesday of the 6th week of Easter. Bible
Study: Acts 17:15-18:1, Psalm 148 and John 16:12-15).
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