Oh my, the commercials these days, pushing diseases they think we probably have with their cure for what ails us!  Wait, what?  I’m I the only one wondering why there are advertisements for diseases with cures?  Do we now medicate ourselves?  Where is the medical community on this?  Do we now get to decide what disease we have?  Are we actually allowed to go buy what is promoted to us as cures? 

Doesn’t this remind us of the old TV shows like Bonanza or Andy Griffith where Dr. Shyster rolls into town with his “tonic that cures everything!”  Dr. Shyster never said your hair might fall out along with your teeth.  There were no warning labels. 

Today’s lawsuits cause all medications to have warning labels to cover anything that might go wrong.  The warning is given at the end of each commercial in rapid fire words.  If we had the ability to slow down the words, you would hear that the meds might be worse than whatever ails you.  “Take this, you will be maimed for life, bleed out or even die, but hey, it’s a great cure for a disease we just made up.”  Okay, that’s what I hear…until someone I love has this real illness.  Then I might listen to the warning or read the label—when it gets personal.

Jesus is real.  Jesus is personal to his followers.  Jesus tells his followers real truth about what they will face.  He warns them so that when it happens, they will be prepared for it.  Jesus also introduces the antidote to evil’s temptations, a “Friend” who will come, abide in them as if He were physically with them.  His Holy Spirit, a part of Him, will tell them the Truth and be their guide. 

God’s Holy Spirit comes and lives in us, too.  All who believe, accept, repent and follow Jesus have the gift of this Friend who will guide, comfort, convict, challenge and show us the way to navigate our best life on God’s terms.  I don’t know about you, but I am extremely grateful for this Friend!  The Holy Spirit, like Jesus, is Truth.  Jesus is the Way, Truth and Life.  The Holy Spirit leads us from the inside out in showing us the Way, Truth and Life each day. This is God’s plan for us.

John—God’s Love

John 16:1-15, The Message

^1-4 “I’ve told you these things to prepare you for rough times ahead. They are going to throw you out of the meeting places. There will even come a time when anyone who kills you will think he’s doing God a favor. They will do these things because they never really understood the Father. I’ve told you these things so that when the time comes and they start in on you, you’ll be well-warned and ready for them.

The Friend Will Come

^4-7 “I didn’t tell you this earlier because I was with you every day. But now I am on my way to the One who sent me. Not one of you has asked, ‘Where are you going?’ Instead, the longer I’ve talked, the sadder you’ve become. So let me say it again, this truth: It’s better for you that I leave. If I don’t leave, the Friend won’t come. But if I go, I’ll send him to you.

^8-11 “When he comes, he’ll expose the error of the godless world’s view of sin, righteousness, and judgment: He’ll show them that their refusal to believe in me is their basic sin; that righteousness comes from above, where I am with the Father, out of their sight and control; that judgment takes place as the ruler of this godless world is brought to trial and convicted.

^12-15 “I still have many things to tell you, but you can’t handle them now. But when the Friend comes, the Spirit of the Truth, he will take you by the hand and guide you into all the truth there is. He won’t draw attention to himself, but will make sense out of what is about to happen and, indeed, out of all that I have done and said. He will honor me; he will take from me and deliver it to you. Everything the Father has is also mine. That is why I’ve said, ‘He takes from me and delivers to you.’

Lord,

Thank you for the Warning with a Wonderful Counselor, part of you in us, to guide us to Your Truth!  Thank you for always being with us in this way!  Thank you for the wisdom that comes from listening to the guidance of your Holy Spirit.  Your Spirit give us warning lights when we are about to be empty and need more of you.  You warn us when we are about to walk into danger and troubles.  Your Spirit also teaches and shows the way out, over and through the deep waters.  Thank you, thank you, thank you for this Friend gift!

In Jesus Name, Amen