To me the holy spirit is the force in people that isn’t human. Being moral or being conservative or even going out of the way to help people—all of this can be human. The holy spirit isn’t what makes us hard-working, genuine, caring people.
I’ve seen the holy spirit push people to do what they would not naturally do. This isn’t when a kid grows up and starts acting less selfish and more responsibly. That’s human. Or when two angry people become friends again. That’s human. Or when someone decides to go on a diet, even though it’s hard. Or when a fireman risks his life to save a baby from a burning house. These are human actions.
A guy with a huge anger problem may overcome it with age—age mellows people. A bratty kid may become a selfless leader—the brat learns how to make people like him. This is a natural human metamorphosis. The social worker inspires a community with genuine care for their pain—this is how compassionate humans make themselves happy. None of this is the holy spirit.
I think the holy spirit moves each of us to overcome fears and desires and pain that is a unique challenge to that one person. So two people many forgive each other to satisfy purely human needs, or because the holy spirit worked a miracle in their hearts. A distant observer wouldn’t know the difference, but someone close tho the situation might know.
I think we should look for the holy spirit because seeing him in action gives us real hope. That hope is him at work in our life. He makes us want to see him. But humans want hope for very human reasons. And when we say “That’s the holy spirit!” when it was just us, I think God gets sad.
If we mis-identify the holy spirit because we want so desperately to make our religion seem real, this is our way of defending our religion. We feel happy and proud. But inside our faith is crying. I think only real hope can quiet these doubts. When I feel depressed, the only thing that gets me out of it—besides caffeine—is remembering where I’ve seen God at work. But God can’t give me real hope until I see the real spirit.
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