It was the Greek philosopher Aristotle who first argued that “Nature abhors a Vacuum.” He observed how matter seems to fill up whatever space it’s given, and inferred from this that it is impossible for a vacuum to exist, that the surrounding material would always move in to fill any empty space.
Thousands of years later, scientists have developed much more sophisticated ways of studying vacuums, but even so they have discovered that no vacuum is ever perfectly free of matter.
So perhaps Aristotle was right after all.
This explains, incidentally, why a balloon is never really empty: as air leaves the balloon, rather than leaving an empty vacuum behind, the air pressure pressing in on the balloon from outside forces it to collapse so that the remaining air inside the balloon fills it evenly again. Even when it is completely empty, still there is air inside it, evenly distributed throughout the space.
Whether or not nature truly does abhor a vacuum, the fact that a balloon is always full of air, regardless how much air it’s full of, is a useful image for one the central aspects of the Christian life: the idea that Christians can, and should be filled with the Holy Spirit.
To be filled with the Holy Spirit is to have the life of Jesus alive in us, by his Holy Spirit, in a real and concrete way, so that he is prompting and guiding and directing us from the inside out. And the Bible is quite clear that this is supposed to be a normal part of the every-day Christian experience.
What is not clear is how, exactly, this filling by the Spirit happens. Does it happen spontaneously, when we first believe in Jesus as our saviour? Does it happen when we are baptized? Does it happen in a special moment after we’ve believed? Or does it happen as a result of our own special effort and obedience to the teachings of Jesus?
Interestingly enough, there are bible verses that suggest that the answer is “yes” to each one of these things: In one place it says we received the Spirit through faith; in another place it says we should be baptized and receive the Holy Spirit; in another place it says God gives the Holy Spirit to those who obey him. In still other places it describes Christians being filled with the Spirit after they believed.
So which is it? Faith? Obedience? Baptism? A one-time-event, or an on-going experience?
And this is where the analogy of the balloon may be helpful. Because whether or not nature actually abhors a physical vacuum, the Holy Spirit, it seems, abhors a spiritual vacuum; he is always ready to fill up as much space as is available to him in our lives.
In this sense, Christians are like the balloon that is always full, regardless how much air is in it: When we first come to faith, even though we don’t yet have much experience with the Holy Spirit, still, inasmuch as no one can say Jesus is Lord except by the Spirit, we are filled with the Holy Spirit.
And when we are baptized, and our experience of God expands through our experience of baptism, the Holy Spirit fills that new space he’s opened in us; and we are, at baptism, filled with the Holy Spirit.
And later, as we have special moments where we experience God’s grace, or take steps of obedience with him, and our life with Jesus expands because of it, the Holy Spirit fills that new space, too.
Like the balloon that is full after one puff, but can still be filled after 20, we are filled with the Spirit when we first believe, and still need to be filled through God’s on-going work in our lives.
Of course a balloon isn’t much of a balloon until it’s filled full; and neither are Christians much in their faith until they’ve experienced deeper and greater fillings of the Holy Spirit. But even so, this filling starts to happen the moment we believe. Like the Bible says: we are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in us, whom we have received from God.
0 comments:
Post a Comment