Jesus Promised Us Help

What Did Jesus Do?

“I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper,
to be with you forever...”
John 14.16

I love insurance commercials. They assure us that we're in “good hands,” that they're “on our side,” and, "like a good neighbor, they're there.” I mean, the folks in the ads are so earnest and sincere that they almost make me forget that insurance companies are in business for the purpose of making money. Don't get me wrong, I've got auto insurance, homeowners insurance, and life insurance, and I'm happy that there are companies who provide these products. But I'm not about to confuse them with altruists. Sure they'll help. That's why I've paid them a $100,000 and more in premiums and deductibles during my lifetime.

Thankfully, God has never sent us a bill for the insurance, and assurance, he supplies us. You see, when Jesus promised us help, it was with the full knowledge that he himself would pay the “premium.” And, unlike my insurance policy which is always expiring and needing to be renewed—the help, actually the Helper, Jesus promised (the Holy Spirit), he promised forever.

Another thing about insurance companies, they keep you waiting a lot. Call them and you're likely to be put on hold after 10 minutes or so of working your way through the automated prompts of their answering system. If you are not careful, you may make a mistake and have to go back to the end of the queue. And, when you finally get through to someone you are likely to wait several days, if not weeks, for an adjustor to show up to verify your claim. But the Helper Jesus promised is always with us, dwells with us. In fact, he's an “insider” (see John 14.17). He's always present and ready to help us.

Even better, the help the Helper provides us is not just timely, it's perfectly, well, divine. Because, you see, the Helper is the very presence and power of the Father and Son, with, in, and for us. It's rather ironic that the world cannot receive help from the Helper. Dollar signs and other idols make the world essentially blind to the truth, which means the world cannot see the Helper, who is the very Spirit of Truth.

But, here's the thing, though there are many who have not received the help Jesus promised, a good number of them may yet receive it. How? Well a big part of it is up to us. If the Holy Spirit is presently invisible to them, they neither see him nor know him. But, if they could but see him and know him, there is every likelihood that they would receive him. My question to you is, where is the Holy Spirit now? If we have received him, then Jesus says that the Spirit dwells among us and even in us. So, if people are going to see and know the Spirit of Truth, their best chance of doing so is for us to exhibit him to them. That's right, today you and I can help someone to see the Spirit at work in us, or not. The key, I believe, is the kind of fruit our lives produce each day. When the Spirit is working in us, when we are exhibiting him, there is such wonderful fruit, you see (see Galatians 5.22-23). Unlike the fruit that our ancestors ate, which enabled all of us to see and know sin, but be blind to righteousness, the Fruit of the Spirit in our lives helps others to see and know the Truth, even Jesus Christ.

Jesus promised us help, in the person of the Helper, in order that we might be helpers who help others to see and know him. Imagine if everyone who has the Spirit within them helped someone to see him and know him today, why it could mean a whole lot of people being added this day to the number being saved. And, you know what, that's what Jesus did when he helped us.

S.D.G.

Jim
www.jimwilkenministries.org
Marion, NC
PS 37.4