The Spirit of Truth

The Spirit of Truth is a gift to the people of God by God. Jesus says that the Holy Spirit will come and it will lead us into all truth.  The Spirit is a gift that is like the wind. It will come and push and move us in the direction of truth but it is not something that we can possess or control.

The Spirit of Truth is something that we submit to and follow but do not direct or determine.  The Spirit of God's truth is when we get so caught up and inspired by the Spirit that we "led by the Spirit."  The great temptation is to think that the Spirit of Truth is something that we can have and then use it to our own purposes. The way Insurance salespeople join the church in order to get membership directories.

The Spirit of Truth grabs us and moves us in the direction of living our daily lives as Jesus has described living. Blessed are the poor. Blessed are those who mourn.  So many of us read those words and say Amen over them, but then work as hard as we can not to be among them. Blessed are those who morn and we do all we can to afford seeing the pain, suffering and grief that our way of life causes.

Tom Long told about his good old South Carolina racists father, who was also a good old Presbyterian Elder. His father was made chair of a committee to shape the AARP's policy about integration of public schools. His father wanted to keep them segregated, but he read the Scriptures and studied the issue and the Spirit of Truth came upon him and he could not advise the AARP's to oppose integration.

The Spirit of Truth is a gift to lead us into God's kingdom of love for all people.  It is not something we can impose on other people.