Not My Will, but Your Will
When I was in high school, a popular destination for the kids during Easter break was the Colorado River. In my junior year, several friends and I camped for a few days near the town of Parker on the California side of the river. One day, a couple of us journeyed about 8 miles up river with an inner tube and a surfboard (yep, got some pretty strange looks with a surfboard in the middle of the desert) intent on floating down the river until we reached our campsite.
I must admit, floating with the fast-moving current on an inner tube is a bit unnerving, yet also quite exhilarating. The fact that you have no rudder, no real means of guiding your path, makes your movements quite unpredictable. You float, you bob, you spin; forwards, backwards, sideways. One minute, you're rushing with a fast-moving flow at break-neck speeds, then suddenly you drift into a tranquil eddy, unsure if you're moving at all and never knowing what challenge awaits around the next bend. In short, you are at the whim of the current with little control over your own destiny.
The Mystery of the Wind
The concept of who really controls a true Christian's destiny is in view in one of the most notable divine appointments in all of Scripture. In the third chapter of the Gospel of John, Jesus presents an important teaching to an inquisitive, yet confused Pharisee, named Nicodemus. After telling Nicodemus that a person must be "born again" to see the kingdom of God, he makes this statement:
The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit." (John 3:8 ESV)
Many theologians have presented this passage as a universal "proof-text" that a person becomes a true Christian by some mysterious, (seemingly) random act of the Spirit moving like a capricious wind. However, a careful, thoughtful reading of the text in John 3:8 reveals that Jesus' message to Nicodemus is simply, "Everyone who is born of the Spirit (born again) is like the wind." In other words, this is not a verse about how a person becomes a Christian. It is a description of how a true Christian becomes an effective servant. The equivalency Jesus is making is between the wind and the Spirit-controlled behaviors of those who have truly been reborn.
So, how is a person "born of the Spirit" like the wind?
For Your Consideration
Let's begin with this; the wind and those born of the Spirit share three things in common:
(1) Like the wind, those who are born of the Spirit will display some visible effects.
When Jesus says, "You hear the sound of the wind . . ." he is saying that, although you can't see the wind, there will be evidence of its working. Likewise, although a person who is born of the Spirit might not look different, there will be recognizable, tangible evidence of the presence of the Spirit's working in such a person.
Such evidence might be a subtle change in demeanor - more patient, more joyful, more encouraging, less volatile. (See the fruit of the Spirit, Galatians 5:22, 23).
And the disciples were filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit. (Acts 13:52 ESV)
For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong. (2 Corinthians 12:10 ESV)
. . . I have learned to be content in whatever circumstances. (Philippians 4:11 NIV)
Or the evidence of the working of the Spirit might manifest itself in a wholesale personality make-over. The apostle Paul is an inspiring example of one who underwent such a dramatic change in character with the indwelling of the Spirit.
I thank him who has given me strength, Christ Jesus our Lord, because he judged me faithful, appointing me to his service, though formerly I was a blasphemer, persecutor, and insolent opponent. But I received mercy because I had acted ignorantly in unbelief, and the grace of our Lord overflowed for me with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. (1 Timothy 1:12-14 ESV)
(2) Like the wind, those who are "born of the Spirit" display actions that will be unexplainable without spiritual understanding.
When Jesus tells Nicodemus that "you do not know where the wind comes from or where it goes" he is saying that there is often a mysterious work of God working through those who have submitted themselves to the will of the Spirit. We see this mysterious work clearly in the early church.
And when Paul had laid his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came on them, and they began speaking in tongues and prophesying. (Acts 19:6 ESV)
I was also reflecting how this mysterious work is clearly displayed in the lives of both past and present missionaries and evangelists who, often to the complete surprise of family and friends, forego lives of comfort and safety to share the testimony of God and to disciple unreached peoples.
(3) Like the wind, those who are "born of the Spirit" are controlled by God.
And they were filled with great fear and said to one another, "Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?" (Mark 4:41 ESV)
Just as God controls the wind, so He is able to control a person via the Spirit, if we allow Him.
And the Spirit said to Philip, "Go over and join this chariot." (Acts 8:29 ESV)
And the Spirit told me to go with them . . . (Acts 11:12 ESV)
Even though we can resist the Spirit (Acts 7:51), we can quench the Spirit (1 Thes 5:19), we can grieve the Holy Spirit (Eph 4:30), it's important to remember that the God of the Bible is a good God who wants what is best for us. God, in his love, wants us to freely choose to love him and to trust him by allowing him to work through us.
Final Thought
For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit. (2 Peter 1:21 ESV)
". . .carried along by the Holy Spirit." Complete submission to God and allowing the Spirit to work through us can be like being carried along by the wind in a hot air balloon (or down the river in an inner tube). Allowing God to control our path can be a bit unpredictable and unnerving at times. Yet, we want to put our destinies in the hands of the trustworthy One; the One who controls both the wind and the waves.
". . . nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done." (Luke 22:42 KJV)
Next Post: We'll begin to explore the question, "At what point does a deity become other than the God of Scripture?"
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