“It’s just a spirit thing, it’s just a holy nudge, it’s like a circuit-judge in the brain. It’s just a spirit thing, it’s here to guard my heart, it’s just a little hard to explain.”
The Newsboys, “Spirit Thing”
I won’t make a point of quoting Christian pop music of the 90s regularly here, believe me, but all our talk of the Holy Spirit has planted this nostalgic song firmly in my head this week. (Inspiration is a strange creature.)
Truly, the theology of the Holy Spirit can be difficult to explain. So much so, that a cursory look at Christianity-adjacent forums and subreddits (though I don’t recommend it for the faint of heart) will reveal that the third member of the Trinity is not nearly so well known or understood. There are even some Christians—I was shocked to discover—who don’t believe that the Spirit is a third member of the Trinity; they believe that the Godhead is only two, and the Spirit is some facet of God the Father, not a person at all.
I find this especially odd because the Holy Spirit is, in some ways, our most intimate contact with the Godhead. The most personable, in some ways, of the persons. God the Father is God the King, sovereign and all-powerful. God the Son is God the Merciful, living and dying and rising to rescue us. But God the Spirit is God the Fellowship, the movement, the closeness. A holy nudge, a holy prompting. Something stronger than intuition and deeper than inspiration.
We know, or we ought to know, that every move the Spirit makes is to point us closer to Jesus, and to the grace of the gospel. This is the test of a message’s truth: does it bring me closer to God?
But one of the Spirit’s lesser-known tasks is leading us to beauty. Because true beauty belongs to God.
This message, this leading toward beauty, comes in many forms. It could be symbolized through the visits from our feathered friends, as we discussed on Monday. A holy wind or a biblical tongue of flame could just as easily be the breath of steam off of a loaf fresh from the oven, or the flicker of candles on a table set for a gathering. The Spirit moves, but not at random. Never at random.
The domain of God is the domain of the beautiful, the true, and the noble. The Good. And to feel moved in the direction of beauty, truth, nobility, and goodness is often difficult to explain. It is, in the truest sense, a Spirit Thing.
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Francis Chan wrote a book about the Holy Spirit called "The Forgotten God." The Holy Spirit may not be forgotten, but I agree with you that His role is mightily misunderstood! The Holy Spirit is the Intimate God, or "the closeness," as you called it. When Paul wrote about the "glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory," he had to be talking about the Holy Spirit, for how else would such an outlandish idea -- "Christ in you" -- even be possible?
This was so well said!! Beautiful! Thank you for these words. I recently listened to the Bible Project’s podcast series on the Holy Spirit and how intricately connected to creativity the Spirit is. How it was the Holy Spirit working WITH humans to write the Scriptures (which are, if understood properly, some of the most intricate, brilliant, creative literature ever written!). It’s the Spirit working WITH US to create, to love, to heal - ourselves & others. Oh, how much we’ve missed by squelching The Spirit’s role in our lives. May we all be more in tune with the Holy Spirit’s movements, all around us.