Strong in Spirit

 DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO LUKE

STRONG IN SPIRIT

Luke 1:80

80 And the child grew and became strong in spirit; and he lived in the desert until he appeared publicly to Israel.

NIV

We know from what was recorded earlier that John was filled with the Spirit even while he was still in his mother’s womb when Mary showed up being pregnant by the Spirit of God with Jesus. John became strong in spirit; however, we wonder why this was not strong in the Holy Spirit, but strong in his spirit. It is the same Greek word for spirit that is used for the Holy Spirit, but in this case, it refers to the inner person of a human. We recall something a former pastor has told us our personality is who we are when we are with people, but our character is who we are when we are alone. John lived alone in the desert developing a strong character so that when it was time for him to appear publicly to Israel, he knew who he was inside and the strength of his spirit or character was evident to all. Should this not be our story? Of course, we did not have time to live in a desert, yet, in some sense, we were in a desert as we were not walking with God. However, our character was not being developed with God, but with the forces of this dark world. Still, there was an emptiness, a void that was within and was not filled until we accepted Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior. This could happen to a person’s life no matter their age.  For some it is in their early life, even as a child, for others, such as us, it was not until we were well along in our adult life. Nevertheless, when Christ came into our lives, he brought the Holy Spirit to dwell within us, so that our spirit, or our character could grow in strength with God. It is the Spirit who empowers us within, who strengthens us so that we can walk uprightly with God. We are still a frail person, failing at perfection, and will until that day when we will be changed in a twinkling of an eye, when this corruptible body will become incorruptible, and our perishability will become imperishable. But until then we no longer live in the desert of this dark world, but we live in the kingdom of God and our spirit is continual under the tutelage of the Holy Spirit so that we can become stronger and stronger in character so that reflect the Glory of God in ever-increasing glory as we appear in public.