Student Devotion Session 2: Another Helper

Key Verses: John 14:15-17, ¹⁵ “If you love me, keep my commands. ¹⁶ And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever— ¹⁷ the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you.

Twinkie. What first comes to mind when you hear the word Twinkie? You probably don't think about its practically infinite shelf life, or wonder why Hostess dressed the snack cake up like a cowboy (Twinkie the Kid) for advertising. Seriously, who can imagine some dude at the rodeo pulling a Twinkie form the back pocket of his Wranglers? Before your mind wanders to any of those things, you instantly think "cream-filled sponge cake."

A Twinkie wouldn't be a Twinkie without its filling. What if after unwrapping your treat you bite into a hallow finger of yellow fluff. Your horror swells, as nobody around you seems to care; "it's still a Twinkie," they disregard. "NO IT ISN'T!" you scream, OK....Maybe that's a little melodramatic. But even if you didn't get that emotional over some cake missing its filling, you can't deny that by definition, a Twinkie is a cream-filled sponge cake. Without the filling, it isn't really a Twinkie at all, no matter what it looks like from the outside.

Check out John 14:15-17. Jesus was explaining to His disciples what life looks like for people who truly love him. We will obey His commands if we love Christ. Don't get overwhelmed; Jesus explained that He wasn't just giving us a list of rules to follow to prove our sincerity. He was giving us a helper--the Helper. By definition, Christ-followers have the Holy Spirit with them and inside of them. The Spirit will help you love Christ and keep His commands.

Why doesn't it freak us out when people act like it's no big deal to call themselves "Christians" without being filled with the Holy Spirit? All the time people say things like, "So-and-so is a Christian, he/she just doesn't live like it." Christ said that if we love Him, we will live like it. We will obey His Word. His Spirit will always be with us and in us to help. Right now, be totally honest with yourself if someone heard your name, what would come to mind? Would they immediately define you as a Spirit-filled follower of Christ? Or has your life been hollow fluff?