Holy Spirit.

So a few weeks ago I watched some video teaching online from Cornerstone Church where Francis Chan (aka my man crush) preaches. He just released a new book called The Forgotten God which is, from my understanding, supposed to be all about the Holy Spirit. I think that's an interesting title, because in a lot of ways that's true. I'm pretty sure that every church I've ever went to has had a good theology or understanding of the Holy Spirit (if you're reading between the lines, you're probably catching that only my theology of the Holy Spirit is the right one. Way to go. Hope you're enjoying the sarcasm here). They either ignore him completely or they totally warp his ministry and objective in this world.

But I was watching the first part of this seven part teaching on the Holy Spirit from Cornerstone, and there's one element that even about a month later that is still rolling around in my head and in my heart, and that is simply this:

Do we grasp that life with the Holy Spirit is better than life with Jesus on the earth?

When I first heard that statement, I really had to do a mental double-take. That just doesn't sound right. Life is always better with Jesus, right? I'm still wrestling with this concept, but I'm discovering that maybe I had overlooked something really important about the Holy Spirit. In John 16:7, Jesus tells the disciples it's actually good for him to be leaving them, because if he didn't leave them, then the Holy Spirit ("the Counselor") will not come to them. I'm not saying that having Jesus on this world wouldn't be great, but according to the Scriptures, it seems like Jesus thinks the Holy Spirit is a pretty big deal... that the Holy Spirit will help us grow as Christ followers maybe even more than Jesus himself would. I'm still really wrestling with that last statement.

We are told in Scripture that those who are a part of God's Kingdom have the Holy Spirit living inside of them. God is living inside of me. And yet, I just walk around without even thinking about it. God lives inside of me. That is pretty stinking cool. It's an awesome reason to worship. I'm praying for a bigger, better, more complete understanding of that truth, that I may truly understand the power of God in me, and the power of the Holy Spirit to profoundly change my life, maybe in an even bigger way than if Jesus were still walking the earth this minute.