“It is for your benefit that I go away, because if I don’t go away the Counselor will not come to you. If I go, I will send him to you. When he comes, he will convict the world about sin, righteousness, and judgment…. When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth” (John 16:7-8, 13, CSB).

On the night before His death Jesus introduced His disciples to the third person of the Trinity, the Holy Spirit. Jesus knew that He would no longer be physically present with His disciples and they would need His continuing presence and guidance in their lives.

To illustrate the ministry of the Holy Spirit, Max Lucado draws an analogy to a man who wanted to learn to dance. The man went to a bookstore to buy a book on dancing. He studied the book thoroughly and learned all the dance steps as the book had described.

Once he mastered all the dance steps the man invited his wife to watch him dance. He demonstrated all the movements and steps of the dance perfectly and then turned to his wife, expecting her to congratulate him on what a good dancer he was.

Instead of praising him on his perfect dancing, she instead told him he forgot the most important part of the dance. “Where’s the music?” she asked him.

Just like the dancing man, we Christians are sometimes prone to follow the instructions while ignoring the music. We master doctrine, memorize Bible verses, debate theology and then rigidly march out on the dance floor of life with no music in our hearts.

Dancing without music is not only unsatisfying, it’s without meaning. It’s the what and the how without the why and the wherefore!

It’s like a song with lyrics and no melody….

The same holds true for our Christian lives. Salvation without relationship is religion. It’s ritual. It’s purpose without passion.

The Holy Spirit is the music to the dance of our Christian lives! He’s the melody to the song of salvation.

The Holy Spirit provides passion to God’s purpose for our lives.

When Jesus first introduced His disciples to the Spirit Who would inhabit their lives after He left this earth, He revealed the personhood of the Holy Spirit: “He is the Spirit of truth. The world is unable to receive him because it doesn’t see him or know him. But you do know him, because he remains with you and will be in you” (John 14:17, CSB).

Of the three persons of the Trinity, the Holy Spirit is the one we seem to understand the least. We can personalize God as Father, Son as personal Savior, but we often mistakenly regard the Holy Spirit as a force and not a person.

But, the Holy Spirit is a person. He is the Spirit of Jesus (Philippians 1:19).

He is Jesus (God) abiding in us. He is Jesus walking and talking with us.

And, as such He’s our moral compass. He internally guides us and externally empowers us in how to live out God’s will in this world.

He confirms our salvation in Christ and affirms our hope for eternal life with God.

And, as an added benefit the Holy Spirit illuminates the words of the Bible to our hearts and minds making it more than a set of instructions for living the Christian life but rather a chronicle for having a personal relationship with God in Christ.

In him you also were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and when you believed. The Holy Spirit is the down payment of our inheritance, until the redemption of the possession, to the praise of his glory.

Ephesians 1:13-14, CSB