Where the Wind Blows
Where the Wind Blows
The Carpenter must have paused in the conversation, feeling a cool evening wind touch His face, tug at His robe. He may have gestured toward the dark shape of a nearby tree, listening to a murmur of leaves.
“The wind,” He told the Pharisee, “blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit” (John 3:8).
I’ve always loved that illustration.
Maybe it’s because I’ve always loved the wind.
I think of a summer afternoon … relaxing underneath an old, wide-armed maple, watching the wind gently bend the branches and rustle the leaves.
I think of a morning by the ocean … feeling the wind in my face, watching it toss the waves.
I think of camping in a grove of pine … listening to the wind whistle and whisper through the forest.
I think of a November nor’easter … roaring across rain-wet fields in wild and wonderful fury.
I think of the smell of wind … bearing the fragrance of distant blossoms, the aroma of a cherrywood fire, the sharp, salt tang of the sea.
Little wonder Jesus likened the wind to the Spirit. Wind, by its very nature, moves. Just so, the Spirit never lies dormant, never stays still within the soul. He’s always moving, always making His presence known. And if this Holy One truly lives at the center of our lives, we will see … feel … at times almost smell and hear the effects of His activity. The Spirit will constantly be doing something within us, something others will be able to observe.
Although we cannot see the wind with our eyes, we know it moves among us by the effect it has on trees, flowers, ocean waves, smoke from fires, ripples on a pond, waving wheat, and its touch on our faces.
In the same way, you will know the Spirit lives in you or a fellow Christian by the effect He produces in character and conduct.
It’s absurd to suppose you can have the Spirit of Christ within you and not see, feel, and experience His presence. The Holy Spirit will produce holy living. Paul says in Galatians 5:22 that “the fruit [or evidence] of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and selfcontrol.”
The wind marks its movement by what it touches. And in its wake it leaves freshness and cleansing.
As you allow the Spirit to fill and empower your life, others will mark His presence, breathe deeply of His fragrance … and give thanks.