There’s A Spirit In The Air

The first seven verses of 2 Timothy chapter 1 were originally designed to be addressed to leadership in the church. There is a call to all who are baptised into the faith, the call requiring us fight under His banner against sin, the world and the devil while being faithful soldiers and servants until our lives end. To do that we seem to have the need to strive earnestly and habitually to get rid of all cowardly fears and to follow the path marked for us with energy, charity, caution and self-awareness – the idea that we are individuals who know who we are about.

So Paul ends at verse seven with these words:

For God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control. – 2 Timothy 1:7

The actually translation for the word “fear” is “cowardice.”  With the little study I have done on the subject I was intrigued when I found the word “shy” being used in a bad way, as a cowardly expression, only to find this amazing description of the Holy Spirit.

 “One of the most surprising discoveries in my own study of the doctrine and experience of the Spirit in the New Testament is what I can only call the shyness of the Holy Spirit. What I mean here is not the shyness of timidity. Paul in 1 Timothy 1:7 calls Him the spirit of power. It’s not the spirit of timidity but the shyness of deference, the shyness of a concentrated attention on another; it is not the shyness (which we often experience) of self-centeredness, but the shyness of an other-centeredness. It is in a word, the shyness of love. ~ Dale Bruner, in The Holy Spirit: Shy Member of the Trinity 

There are very few problems that cannot be overcome by living more lovely lives and having more loveliness. God has given us this ability by giving His own love to us. The early Church experienced the power of the Holy Spirit, but what sustained them was love. A great spirit of love came upon them so that they shared all they had with others who had decided to follow Jesus. They supported each other and made sure that no one was in need. They voluntarily did this. They could do it because God had poured His love on them.

Today I want to love – I want to be shy in the way that points everyone I meet to Jesus. Maybe today I want not only to be like Jesus, but act like the Holy Spirit – with love, power and self-control.