“I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come. He will glorify Me, for He will take of what is Mine and declare it to you. John 16:12-14
When my son Wyatt was a toddler I belonged to a mom’s group. We shared stories of parenting, encouragement, recipes, etc. We also handed down clothing that didn’t fit our children anymore. I remember one year I received a bag of clothes from a woman who always shopped at department stores, and paid top dollar for everything her kids wore. I was excited when I opened the bag and discovered an outfit I had seen the previous season at the mall. At that time I wanted to buy it but I didn’t, and when I went back it wasn’t there. So when I saw that outfit in the bag I got excited when I realized it was Wyatt’s size.
I called him into the room to have him try it on. As I put the outfit on him I was shocked to discover that it was too small for him! How could this be? It fit him perfectly in the store and he hadn’t grown any since then, so why didn’t it fit now? As I looked closer at the outfit I read the tag that said “dry clean only” and I realized that this mom had accidentally washed it.
I was disheartened but I really didn’t give it much thought until years later when I was working out my beliefs about God, and determining what I believed. Most of what I knew about God had been passed down to me by my family, church, and the parochial school I had attended for 10 years. When studying one day the memory of this event came mind. As I prayed about it and read the Bible I found the passage in John 16:12 -14 that I quoted above.
After further reflection I came to an understanding about the event that took place with the outfit and what Jesus was trying to tell us in John 16. Let me explain. When Wyatt tried on that outfit in the store it was in its original condition. The designer of the clothing line had taken great care to choose the proper material and gave instructions on how to care for it. When the outfit got into the hands of man (the mother) she had a choice to make. She could follow the instructions of care given to her directly from the designer, or she could ignore it and go with her own interpretation of his instructions. It is obvious what she chose to do, and the result of that decision was the disfigurement of a perfectly designed article of clothing.
This is exactly what happens when people disregard what Jesus said in this passage. The Holy Spirit’s role in the believer’s life is to instruct them into all truth. Unfortunately most people choose instead to rely on man’s instructions on how to be in relationship with God. When this happens they end up getting a hand-me-down religion that has been disfigured by man, and when they try it on, it never fits right! The Word of God was perfectly designed to fit each person who reads it, and a relationship with God is perfectly designed to bring complete fulfillment to the believer’s life.
The beauty of the difference between these two scenarios is that what is impossible to change in the natural, is possible to change in the supernatural! I had no ability to re-figure that outfit to restore it to its original design because it was impossible! But when it came to the hand-me-down religious beliefs, I was able to change them, and God was faithful to restore my relationship with Him to its original design. I now rely on the Holy Spirit to instruct me into all truth and I no longer adopt the beliefs of man when it comes to my relationship with God.
I want to encourage you today to spend time with God and ask Him to reveal if your relationship with Him is based on His original design, or if it is based on hand-me-down religious beliefs. Begin to see the importance of the Holy Spirit’s role in your relationship with God. Ask Him to supernaturally remove your hand-me-down religious beliefs, and to instruct you into all truth, as He has promised in John 16 by the operation of the Holy Spirit in your life.
Prayer: Give me wisdom according to your Word and reveal if there is anything in my relationship with you that is not a part of your original design. I praise you for giving me the Holy Spirit as my teacher and my guide into the truth of your Word and the truth about our relationship. Give me eyes to see, ears to hear, and a heart to understand your instructions for my life. I praise you for giving me a spirit of power, love, and a sound mind, so I can overcome any hand-me-down religious beliefs that have disfigured my relationship with you. I believe by faith that I will come into an understanding of you by allowing your Spirit to lead me into all truth. Amen.
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