Time of My Life

"But I [Jesus] tell you the truth, it is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you;"  - John 16:7

I don't know about you, but that verse has puzzled me a time or two.

It's better for you to leave us, Jesus? What could be better than being with You IN PERSON? *bewildered shake of the head*

I've always taken this truth with the attitude that God knows best, and there's some things I just won't understand. Perhaps when I get to heaven I can ask for clarification...

But as I found out today, sometimes you don't have to "wait for heaven." As Charles Spurgeon was detailing John 14:18 ("I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.") in the book, Joy in Christ's Presence he shared the following, "It is true that Jesus is not here in body, but His spiritual presence is quite as blessed as His bodily presence would have been. Actually, it is better, for if Jesus Christ were here in person, we could not all come and touch the hem of His garment - not all at once, at any rate. There might be thousands waiting all over the world to speak with Him, but how could they all reach Him if He were merely here in body? Everyone might be waiting to tell Him something, but in the body He could only receive one or two at a time.

But there is not need for you to say a word; Jesus hears your thoughts and attends to all your needs in the same moment. There is no need to press to get at Him because the crowd is large, for He is as near to me as He is to you, and as near to you as to believers all over the world. He is present everywhere, and all His beloved may talk to Him. You can tell Him at this moment the sorrows that you dare not open up to anyone else. In declaring them to Him, you will feel that you have hardly breathed them into the air before He has hear you. He is a real person, one so real that it is as if you could grip His hand and see the loving sparkle of His eye and the sympathetic look of His countenance."

So true, isn't?

Thank You, Holy Spirit for a  fresh look at John 16:7.