“HE GENEROUSLY POURED OUT THE SPIRIT UPON US THROUGH JESUS CHRIST OUR SAVIOR.” —TITUS 3:6, NLT
Picture a beautiful scene like a nativity, or architecture, or a lush garden, or art, being illuminated by powerful lights, which are carefully tucked away into the landscape or the folds of a curtain.
You admire the scene, but you don’t think about the floodlights. That’s how the Holy Spirit operates.
He doesn’t talk about Himself much. He points people to the wonder of God the Son and God the Father. He reveals Jesus to the world as our Savior and Messiah.
And He is powerful beyond what we can even grasp.
Theologian Dale Bruner calls the Holy Spirit “the shy member of the Trinity” because He doesn’t draw attention to Himself.
He might appear “shy,” but He is hardly timid! His power is used to overcome the world and bring us to the Source of Life, Jesus.
J.I. Packer calls the work of the Spirit a “floodlight” ministry, quietly turning everyone’s attention away from Himself and to the Savior.
When the Holy Spirit truly works through someone, we see Jesus more than that person. John the Baptist set the example when he declared, “ He must increase, but I must decrease” (John 3:30). John pointed to Jesus, rather than drawing attention to himself.
The Holy Spirit turns our eyes to Jesus, where the great, unfathomable mystery resides: In Jesus, “all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form,” and we are “brought to fullness” (Colossians 2:9-10). All of God, everything we need for salvation and life is in Jesus.
We are full and complete when the Holy Spirit leads us to Jesus. We are healed, whole, and drawn into His Word and an intimate relationship with the Almighty.
When the apostle Paul prayed for fellow believers to experience the power of the Holy Spirit, He prayed that we, “being rooted and established in love, may have power…to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God” (Ephesians 3:17-19, NIV).
We can know and experience God and His love, and be transformed because the “shy” yet powerful member of the Trinity does His job.
