The work of the Holy Spirit

Jesus promised His followers that they would not be left alone. He promised the Holy Spirit. The Spirit does not merely give us spiritual experiences. He works within us. Jesus said:

And when He has come, He will convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment.

The Spirit shows us what is wrong. But He does not stop there. He leads us toward what is right.

The Spirit reveals what we do not want to see

Sometimes the most uncomfortable moments in the Christian life are the moments when God shows us ourselves. We may discover: “I am more proud than I thought.” “I am more selfish than I realised.” “I don’t really love that person.” “I say I have forgiven them, but I still want them to suffer.” “I want people to notice me.” “I care more about being right than being loving.” “I am obedient when it suits me.” These discoveries can be painful. But they are actually evidence that God is working. A doctor cannot treat what a patient refuses to acknowledge. When we refuse to surrender an area of our lives, we resist the transforming work God desires to do in us.

Conviction is a gift

When the Holy Spirit convicts us, our first instinct may be to defend ourselves. But conviction is not condemnation. There is a difference. Condemnation says, “You are hopeless.” Conviction says, “This needs to change.” One drives us away from God. The other draws us toward Him.

On the day of Pentecost, Peter told the crowd in Jerusalem that they had crucified the One God had made both Lord and Christ. Luke records what happened:

Now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Men and brethren, what shall we do?”

They were cut to the heart, and they asked what to do. That is conviction leading to repentance. Peter’s answer was to repent and receive the forgiveness of sins and the gift of the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:38). They did not leave in despair. Paul describes the difference:

For godly sorrow produces repentance leading to salvation, not to be regretted; but the sorrow of the world produces death.

When God reveals something in us that is wrong, the correct response is not despair. It is repentance. “Lord, You are right. I was wrong. Change me.” That prayer can become the beginning of profound transformation. And the verdict on those who respond is not condemnation:

There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.

Walking in the Spirit

The Spirit does more than show us our faults. He enables a different life. Paul sets out the contrast:

I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish.

Paul does not say that the struggle will disappear. He says that there is a way to walk through it. And the result of the Spirit’s work is the fruit we considered in the last chapter. “If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit” (Galatians 5:25). Romans 8 adds that “as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God” (Romans 8:14). The Spirit is not an optional addition to Christian character. He is the One who produces it.

We can resist Him. Paul writes, “Do not quench the Spirit” (1 Thessalonians 5:19). We quench Him when we refuse to listen, when we hold on to a sin we have been shown, or when we choose to explain it away. We cooperate with Him when we respond honestly to what He shows us, and ask for the help we need.