Going Deeper for the week of September 16, 2012

I believe that the Holy Spirit is the greatest gift a believer receives.

The fact that we receive forgiveness of sins and the promise of eternal life because of Jesus' life, death, and resurrection is also the work of the Holy Spirit.  The Holy Spirit unites us to the person of Jesus Christ so that through faith we receive all the benefits He has achieved for us.

Last week we saw that the Spirit is "a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God's possession" (Ephesians 1:14).  Today Paul writes again about the hope that we have because of the redemption that is coming to those who have received the Holy Spirit.

(Read Romans 8:18-27)

The glory that will be revealed in us (v. 18) is a glory free from the "bondage to decay".  Paul even says that all of creation is waiting for the sons of God to be revealed so that creation itself will be "liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God"
(v. 21)

And this is our hope (we who have the firstfruits of the Spirit).  It is what we are waiting for, and the Spirit is the key to it all.   The Holy Spirit not only unites us to the person of Jesus, but the Holy Spirit also "intercedes for us" thereby deepening our connection to the Living God (who is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit).

The Holy Spirit is the greatest gift a believer receives because the Holy Spirit is the fulfillment of God's desire to be with His people.  In the Old Testament, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob all learned that God was their greatest blessing.  If they had God, they had everything, and apart from God all that they had meant nothing.  And it is the same with us.

As believers, our greatest blessing is God, and since the Holy Spirit is God, then the Holy Spirit is the greatest gift a believer receives.

So what do you think?  Do you agree?  Is there something better that a believer receives?  Is there another dimension to the Holy Spirit as the greatest gift?  Do you know other scriptures that also make this point?  Let's discuss.