Fellowship

             May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all. (II Corinthians 13:14)

I don’t know if this is the earliest clear statement of the Trinity or not, but here it is. And what I find amusing is that Paul referred to all three members of the Godhead (who are one even though we can’t understand it) and three separate blessings that are equally one. Grace, the giving of what is not deserved; love, the giving of self and commitment to the well-being of the beloved; and fellowship, or friendly association are all expressions of love.

My immediate reaction to the three expressions of love isn’t entirely positive. There’s a part of me that doesn’t want grace. I want to have earned what I get. Notice the tense in that sentence. I don’t want to continue to pay the price. Yes, I want love, on my terms. And that’s what the cross is about, at least in part. God gave us love on our terms. We just figured we’d get our way and everything would go along cheerily. But someone had to die.

Of the three, I think the one that bothers me most is the fellowship of the Holy Spirit. Fellowship means interruption. It requires that we pay attention to someone other than ourselves or something other than our current projects. And that might not be so bad with the Holy Spirit if He answered on our terms. We ask a question or make a request and within ten seconds, we get the answer we wanted. Or at least we get a clear answer. The Holy Spirit might hang out with us for twenty-five years, then say, “Oh, yeah, Abram, remember when I promised you a child? Well…” Or after more than 400 years, “Oh yeah, Moses, remember when I promised the Israelites that they would return to the Promised Land? Well…” Or, He might sit on the couch, put His elbows on His knees and say, “We’ve got to talk…” He never seems to stop by to ask what color the sunset should be tonight, or whether we think our team is going to the championship this year. We’d prefer that.

Too often, we think the solution is for God to be more like us. The real solution is for us to let God be Who He is, and for us to become more like Him, even it that means waiting for answers.