John 16:12-15 (NIV)
“I have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear. But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come. He will bring glory to me by taking from what is mine and making it known to you. All that belongs to the Father is mine. That is why I said the Spirit will take from what is mine and make it known to you.”

The disicples were starting to catch on to what Jesus was telling them, but what He was telling them was not easy to grasp, and what they were grasping wasn’t pleasant. The more they understood, the more distressed they were becoming. So, Jesus stopped where He was for the time being.

Jesus knew that when the Holy Spirit came on these men in just a few weeks they would remember all that He had told them, and the Spirit plus the things that would happen between now and then would help them to really understand what He was trying to get across to them, as well as what it all meant.

Notice that, even though the Holy Spirit is a full member of the Trinity (see Acts 5:3-4) and not just some “power” or “force,” in His role as Counselor and Teacher His actions are not about Himself but are to serve to glorify Jesus and support His teachings. That is an aspect of the Trinity that is often unconsidered: none of the persons of the Trinity is focused on Himself. Jesus lived to glorify the Father with every thought, word, and deed. The Father worked to glorify the Son constantly. And the Holy Spirit receives glory through His purification and empowerment of God’s people, and by helping them to really understand who God and Jesus are and what their intentions are. No competition, no jealousy, no conflicting or competing agendas.

That is precisely how it is to be among God’s people. Our focus should never be on gaining glory for ourselves. Instead, we must stay focused on glorifying Jesus, doing the will of the Father, and following the guidance of the Holy Spirit to grow the kingdom of God by His power. No competition, no jealousy, no conflicting or competing agendas.

Father, it is easy to see how Jesus lived this out each day. And I must admit that things would be a whole lot simpler, and we would be a whole lot more effective if we lived out our faith with this kind of single-mindedness. Help me, Lord, to do exactly that, so that I can glorify You, the whole Trinity, every day, with every thought, word, and deed. Amen.

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