Our Helper

I don’t know what exactly you may do for a living in my own life I have done a little bit of everything from being a bag boy in a grocery store to waiting tables and dozen things in between. While in high school I studied brick and block masonry and was a descent block mason. I came to realize though that it was a lot of hard work and I was not something I wanted to do for the rest of my life. However, I learned a very valuable life lesson during this experience and at the time I was un-churched so today I can look back and say it was a biblical lesson also from the Wisdom of Solomon. We read in Ecclesiastes 4:9-12:

 9 Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their toil. 10 For if they fall, one will lift up his fellow. But woe to him who is alone when he falls and has not another to lift him up! 11 Again, if two lie together, they keep warm, but how can one keep warm alone? 12 And though a man might prevail against one who is alone, two will withstand him—a threefold cord is not quickly broken. (ESV) 

The trick to be a truly good block or brick mason is not your own abilities but the abilities of the laborer that works with you. As a block mason you work generally in one place or a stretch of wall that can be any length all your movement is from one end of the wall to the other. It is tedious and repetitive work. The trick to doing it quickly is having a laborer that can keep the mortar and bricks or blocks supplied, if they are not working twice as hard as the mason than productivity will be low. Believe me one person can lay block all by themselves but the work is extremely slow and unproductive. What I have come to understand out of the physical world is also relevant to my life as a Christian.  

What I have come to understand is that many of us who accept Jesus and begin to live our lives as Christian believers try to do it on our own. While this is admirable there really is no need for us to struggle with the work of the Christian life all by ourselves. For one thing Jesus promised us a Helper in the Holy Spirit.

16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, 17 even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you. John 14:16-17 (ESV)

 

On the day you accepted Jesus as your Lord and Savior you received the Holy Spirit to help Guide and direct you in your Christian walk. There are two problems though; first we are often so used to doing everything on our own we do not want to turn to or trust in the helper we have received. Secondly we don’t really know or understand anything about who the Holy Spirit is.

1 And it happened that while Apollos was at Corinth, Paul passed through the inland country and came to Ephesus. There he found some disciples. 2 And he said to them, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?” And they said, “No, we have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit.” Acts 19:1-2 (ESV)

Today as a believer in the Lord Jesus you have been given a helper that if we will surrender our will to His guidance we can experience life in a way that is different than anything you can ever imagine. The Christian walk is not an easy one however if you are walking with the Holy Spirit in the right relationship you will find the support necessary to live it. I pray today that you allow the Holy Spirit the proper place in your walk with Christ. Be blessed as you walk in the light of God’s Word.