Breath of Life

The question of whether or not there is a God has been long wrestled with throughout our history. For me, the deliberation is nonsensical. Why? Because the person with the belief gets to set the definitions and dimensions of that belief. The question of whether or not someone prescribes to the same belief as I do, is not nearly as interesting as the question, “what do you believe?” To be honest, I care much less about what people do not believe.

One place to start the inquiry might be to define what people of faith mean when the describe what they believe. Granted, terms are non-universal amongst the diversity of Christians. For example, one could easily argue that the Holy Spirit simply means breath. In Hebrew, the word for Spirit is “ruach” which literally means “air in motion.” It is the same word for "breath." Interestingly, it also the same word for "life." So, to believe in God is to believe in breath, or life. The Bible is trying to describe that there’s breath involved in defining God. And so, to deny God is to deny the existence of oxygen.

When I am asked “how do I know there’s a God?” The answer is “because everything exists.” The evidence for God is everywhere, literally everything. God is that which creates. Remember in Genesis when God “breathed into his nostrils the breath of life and humankind came into being” (Genesis 2:6-7). God is the act of creating.

If that feels too abstract, let’s take a look at the New Testament. Jesus says, "That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I said to you, 'You must be born again.' The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit" (John 3:6-8). Jesus is saying that the Spirit is the wind. Again, the Greek word “pneuma” communicates that much better than how we hear it in English. Both the Hebrew and the Greek words are talking about breath. They’re describing wind.

How amazing is it to know that we can breathe in the Presence of God and be filled with the Holy Spirit, by doing something as simple as breathing? Christianity is not a one-time event. Christianity is not an in-or-out dichotomy. Christianity is not about culture or ritual. It is also not about morality or doctrinal litmus tests. The Christian faith is about acknowledging, and celebrating, that we’ve all been breathed on. Jesus breathed on them and said to them, “receive the Holy Spirit” (John 20:22).

If we knew that our breath contained the Holy Spirit, imagine how much we would fight to keep our air clean. If we knew that our breath contained the Holy Spirit, imagine how much more kind our words would be to one another. If we knew that our breath contained the Holy Spirit, imagine how we would treat everyone who has the capacity to breathe. We all breathe, therefore we all contain God within us. If we all knew that, there would be no room for self-hate. There would be no space to hate others. We have the presence of God within us all the time. Indeed, "Let everything that has breath praise the Lord” (Psalm 150).

Taking in a deep breath,

Pastor Lucas

Photo by Aaron Burden