The Perfect Relationship.

podcast: https://www.pastorwoman.net/podcast/episode/3230e63a/the-perfect-relationship-holy-spirit-who-or-what-no3

Relationship that defies description . . .

Holy Spirit - who or what? no.3

We have all seen relationships that are beautiful,

Relationships that are far afield from what we have experienced ourselves . . . 

Relationships to which we can only aspire to be a part of, much less, fully understand.

Since a little girl, the notion of the Trinity was one thing, God was another. I do not ever have a recollection that did not include God, for I was raised with a love and fear of God. But the Trinity? Twas a notion that was lofty as the moon. My last briefing referred to it as the perfect community.  https://conta.cc/3TJvIpC

I'm wondering - What do you think life is like in the Trinity?   Seriously, have you ever thought about it from that perspective, from within, and as one relates with the other? Hmmm.

Let's think - Do you remember the tight community of Jesus just before he was arrested? Some of the disciples' last thoughts, conversations had to do with who was the greatest. Within the Trinity, do you think they argue about who is the oldest, the greatest, the most powerful? Of course not. Indeed the life of the Trinity is characterized not by self-centeredness but by mutually self-giving love.1

  Each person of the Trinity loves, adores, defers to, and rejoices in the others.  

    That creates a dynamic, pulsating dance of joy and love. 2   

Truly, the Trinity is a community

who lives in constant fellowship with one another. 3

You and I have been invited into this fellowship of love, which is almost too staggering to comprehend. Yet, to experience community is to know the true joy of belonging. How sweet it is-the delight of being known and loved, the opportunity for giving and growing, and the safety of finding a true home.4 When you find such a community of love, you want to give yourself to it ..."  

Okay, so I totally get that! 'Belonging' is so important to our emotional well being. When one encounters such a thing, she wants to fall fearlessly, trustingly into it, as falling backwards into a swimming pool, maybe even with her clothes on.  hmmm...

True community is made possible through our three-in-one God.  

The Trinity is this circle of sufficiency that is a model for us that everything will be okay - a circle that delights, enjoys and loves completely.

Understanding the relational nature of and within the Godhead is critical because then we are able to conceptually understand why God yearns to speak to us and with us.  Why, it is his very essence!

Each member of the Trinity --Father, Son and Holy Spirit-- points to the other: Jesus described that the Spirit would point to him, and would make real to us what he had taught. He said, But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you.   John 14.26

He will glorify Me, for He will take of what is Mine and declare it to you.   15  All things that the Father has are Mine. Therefore I said that He will take of Mine and declare it to you. John 16.14-15

The Holy Spirit pointed to Jesus.

Jesus didn't point to himself, he pointed to his Father, and he submitted to the Holy Spirit.                                                    

Jesus submitted to the Father, "Not my will, but thine be done."5

And what about the Father?  

We heard God the Father speak twice-once at Jesus' baptism, and at the Transfiguration:

           "This is my priceless Son, in whom I well pleased - listen to him."

You see, ->Each member of the Trinity points faithfully and

selflessly to the other in an endlessly gracious eternal circle of love.

"The advantage of believing in the Trinity is not that we get an "A" from God for knowing the right answer. The advantage of believing in the Trinity is that we then live as if the Trinity is real, as if the cosmos around us is actually beyond all else a community of unspeakably magnificent personal beings of boundless love, knowledge and power."6  Our God is a God of endless, selfless love.

And so, we have had perfect relationship and unity modeled for us, and we are called to nothing less-perfect unity and relationship. So, how have you entered into that relationship? Do you desire to know and be in community with the Trinitarian nature of God?  And, I ask you again: are you part of a community of believers that loves well?

There's no doubt the Trinity defies complete understanding, and yet we are drawn to the love and the eternality of our three-in-one God... amazing!

I just found a book called The God You Need to Know, Margaret Feinberg, and I am learning a lot from her real-life teaching. She includes short prayers at the end of each chapter that are illuminating, including this one:

BREATH PRAYER:

breathe in: Spirit of the Living God

breathe out:  I want all of you.7

Give this song a listen - simply called Trinity Song,

sung live: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UFk83TwBokM&list=RDUFk83TwBokM&start_radio=1

Grateful to be on the journey with you,

Christine

Holy Spirit: who or what, no.3

1 - Tim Keller, The Reason for God, http://greatexchange.tumblr.com/post/51223403352/the-dance-of-god-tim-keller-on-the-trinity  

2 - ibid   

3 - Everybody's Normal til you Get to Know Them , John Ortberg

4 - ibid., Now do you see why I love Ortberg so?   

5 - Luke 22.42

6 - Dallas Willard, Living in Christ's Presence: Final Words on Heaven and the Kingdom of God 

7 - From The God You Need to Know, Margaret Feinberg, 2025. Truly enjoying this book, especially as it reveals the Holy Spirit in the Old Testament