What could be better than Jesus?
Jesus himself said something, or rather someone is better.
In John 16:7 He says, “Nevertheless, I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you. But, if I go I will send him to you.”
The Helper, the Holy Spirit, is better than Jesus!
Now, I know the Trinity is one and the same. There is no hierarchy amongst them.
Jesus himself made this statement. I feel this is something I don’t consider enough in my everyday life. Either He is a liar (in which case we have bigger problems), or we should consider this.
When we start talking about the Holy Spirit, people get concerned. There are so many different opinions on His involvement in our lives, so lets narrow things down a bit.
The Holy Spirit is not weird, people are weird. Most of our hesitations come from what we have seen people do in God’s name. God has chosen to work through a unique blend of Himself and us partnering together. The perfect and the imperfect. The infallible and the fallible. We take things to extremes. We are the ones who corrupt a good thing. But it does not negate the words of Christ.
When we reject the Spirit, we reject Jesus since the Trinity is one.
The focus Jesus is giving in John 16 is on the indwelling nature of the Spirit. Other passages speak of this as abiding, or God’s desire to dwell with us.
So how could anything be better than Jesus? Why did Jesus say the Helper is better?
1. His indwelling presence is bigger. Jesus, in his humanity was limited in what He could do. Yes, he was God…but in the form of a man, He could not be everywhere at once with the masses.
2. Convicts of sin. While he does this for believers, the context of John 16:7-8 is to draw those who do not believe to HImself.
3. Communicates the righteousness of Christ. The Holy Spirit is better for us because He allowed Christ to finish his work of death and resurrection. The prize for us is the righteousness Christ achieved, breaking the power of sin and death. In this Christ, gave us “everything we need for life and godliness”(2 Peter 1:3).
4. Proclaims victory over the enemy. The judgment Christ speaks of in verse 11 is very different than we consider. It is not against the lost or a disappointment with the failure of believer’s. The judgment Christ was focused on is directed towards the enemy. He left us to accomplish this.
How much do we focus on the Spirit’s indwelling in our hearts?
Jesus, seemed to think we were better served with the “Helper” than with Him.
Do our lives agree with the words of Christ?
Put aside our Holy Spirit baggage and denominational interpretations, and pause for a moment to consider the words of our Lord and Savior.
“It is to your advantage that I go away…”
What would change in our lives if we were more aware of his daily presence?