September 22

"He shall . . . bring to your remembrance all that I said unto you." John 14:26

Spiritual words, to ensure their effectiveness, must be kept alive in the Spirit. A certain Christian was once convicted of sin. Others had left the meeting hall where conscience had smitten him, but he remained, overwhelmed, feeling himself under divine judgment. That night he saw sin, in the words of one of our hymns, "as black as smoke." With just those few words he was able thereafter to express vividly the repugnancy of sin in God’s eyes. Many were helped and, like him, found forgiveness.

But for two or three years he was harping on the same note. His words, "sin as black as smoke," were still with him; but when he rose to speak, the picture was no longer there. He spoke now, not with tears in his eyes but with a smile. The words were the same, but the man himself was recalling them; the Spirit’s reminder was absent. The Holy Spirit had moved on, for the revelation he had given earlier had served its purpose.