A Different Kind of Spirit
Today’s scripture selection: First Corinthians 1-2
Key verses: First Corinthians 2:12
Class spirit. Team spirit. Company spirit.
The world is always asking us to cheer for somebody or something. And, especially in the corporate “dog eat dog” culture – “if you aren’t with us, you’re against us” is heard too often.
In contrast, faith offers a startling alternative.
In the scriptures, Spirit – (note the capital S) – has to do with breath and life and comfort and holiness and…God.
The Holy Spirit comes bringing comfort that the world doesn’t understand very well.
Maybe that’s why the apostle Paul could write so freely and eloquently about how the “Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God.” He said “What we have received is not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God.” What a difference that should make in how we live out our lives every day.
While we are pressured or tempted, day in and day out, to cheer for people and things that are really only temporary – faith invites us to give thanks for the presence of God’s Spirit in our lives – a presence that will never fail and never end.
School days eventually end, we go to the prom, and we graduate. Our favorite teams, no matter how good, eventually lose. And even the best and brightest businesses one day post a “going out of business” sign and close the door forever. But God’s Spirit – and the life and love and wisdom it brings – never ends.
Now that’s something to cheer about.
Prayer: Lord, fill me with your Spirit, now and always. AMEN.
By Paul Simrell
The Reverend Paul W. Simrell has served for over thirty years in a variety of congregational and institutional settings. He is a recognized minister with standing in the Virginia region of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in the United States and Canada and is nationally endorsed by the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) for specialized ministry in both pastoral counseling and chaplaincy. Ordained in 1982, he has served congregations in Kentucky, Texas, Florida, and Virginia. He currently serves as the pastor of Elpis Christian Church, a small, historic congregation located just a few miles west of Richmond, Virginia. Elpis is the Greek word meaning “expectant hope.” He also serves on the associate clinical staff of the Virginia Institute of Pastoral Care, Richmond, Virginia, both as a pastoral counselor and a ministerial assessment specialist, specializing in executive, clergy and relationship coaching. He is a graduate of the University of Florida and Lexington Theological Seminary and has done advanced clinical training in chaplaincy and pastoral counseling at the University of Kentucky Medical Center in Lexington, Kentucky, Children’s Medical Center and Parkland Hospital in Dallas, Texas and the Virginia Institute of Pastoral Care in Richmond, Virginia. He is a Certified Pastoral Counselor, an ACPE Practitioner, and a member of the American Association of Christian Counselors. He is a Certified Facilitator of the Prepare-Enrich relationship assessment and skills-building program and served as a volunteer chaplain for over twenty years with the CJW Medical Center campuses in Richmond, Virginia. His avocational interests include playing the piano and drawing. He is very happily married to his wife Elizabeth Yeamans Simrell, a free-lance writer, who is also a Certified Facilitator for the Prepare-Enrich program.
Good company in a journey makes the way seem shorter. — Izaak Walton
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