Sacred Companions

"If I am to have a place of stillness at the core of my being, it will only be because I have learned to offer hospitality to the Spirit (47)."

We live in a world that glorifies the defiled image of God in people. The more outrageous, obscene, even offensive you are, the more attention you receive, both good and bad. This world thrives on lewdness, sex sells. We live in a pornographic world where porn stars are icons and pimps and gangsters are emulated. You may think these examples are extremes, but the truthness of this reality has impact a whole generation. This world operates from a use or be used mentality, in order to get anywhere in life you have to either climb over someone or step on them. Where is the redemption in that?

If we like it or not, this defiled image is at the core of who we are, that is reality. Jesus describes this perverted core when He talks about what makes a person 'clean or unclean:" "For from within, out of men's hearts, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly (Mark 7:21-22)." But, it is exactly in this place, our sinful hearts, that we can offer hospitality to the Spirit of the living God. When a person gives their life to Jesus, the Holy Spirit takes up residence in that person's heart and begins to transform them by restoring and redeeming our defiled image. He becomes a new creation (2 Cor 5:17).

The Holy Spirit is the guarantee of our inheritance of eternal life (Eph 1:14), a deposit of what's to come (2 Cor 1:22) which is to one day be in Heaven with Jesus. The more time we spend in showing hospitality to the Holy Spirit, the more of eternity we will experience in our day to day lives. Now, in order to show hospitality to someone we need to be present with them and in order to be present with them we need to be attentive to them. So, this practice of hospitality towards the Spirit means our spirit is actively present with the Spirit's presence in our everyday lives which means we are taking the time to be attentive to Him. Because it's only when we are paying attention to the Spirit are we then able to respond to the Spirit.