In Romans 5:1-5 Paul tells us that we have been justified by faith, made right with God by His grace through Christ’s sacrifice for us, and blessed by the coming of the Holy Spirit. Paul is teaching how we are connected to God, but also how the Trinity – God in three persons – is part of our lives. This is a hard concept and many have attempted to explain it, with varying degrees of success.
God loves us so much that He makes every attempt to be in relationship with us. We are all made differently and we all react and learn differently. God created us and knows this, so He reaches out to us in different ways. God is part of the lives of the early Hebrews, leading them out of slavery in Egypt. They knew the presence of God as He watched over them in the desert and made them His people, as recorded in Exodus.
Later, God came to live among us as a human, as we read in the Gospels. Jesus walked with us and taught that love for Him and each other was our most important task. He modeled a life of connection, learning and acting in the best interests of others.
When He ascended, He promised that God would send the Holy Spirit to guide and comfort us (Acts 1-2), and at Pentecost the disciples received this blessing. The rest of the New Testament tells of the faithful going out to the world in the strength of the Holy Spirit to spread the Good News of salvation.
While we may find it somewhat difficult to see God the Father, Jesus the Son and the Holy Spirit as a single entity, the point we need to understand is that God is trying to reach us and teach us in the best way possible for our situation. As many churches celebrate Trinity Sunday tomorrow, consider how God is present in your life, loving and leading you to a closer connection to Him and His world.
Gracious God, we are grateful for the ways You connect with us, to show us Your love and Your plan for our lives. Help us to listen to Your guidance that we may be loving representatives to all the world. Amen.