In the Gospels, Jesus called people to believe in him and follow him, and the Holy Spirit empowered
me to say yes please to that invitation. Hi, I'm Suzy Marvin. After I said yes to following Jesus,
I started the journey of discovering what that means. I learned about Jesus the way I learned
about everything else in the world, with my best efforts and understanding, and trying hard to
apply what I was learning. I was also self-pitying, a bit critical, eating emotionally, always a bit
anxious, and a bit resentful. I was missing the joy and peace in believing. I have been taught
that in the Gospel of John, when Jesus referred to the Holy Spirit as the helper or comforter,
the Greek meant the Holy Spirit is called near to help and comfort us. I took that to mean he
would help me make my life work, and he would help me feel better when life got tough. He's been
gracious to do that, but something was missing with that perspective. I revisited that New
Testament Greek verb parakaleo, which means call near. Holy Spirit shifted my focus to him calling
me near to God. I realized that the Holy Spirit who empowered me to respond to Jesus was also
empowering me to experience his presence. I am already firmly in Christ, in his presence, and all
that means because of Jesus' death and resurrection. But the Holy Spirit is calling me near to free me,
to live being who I already am, in Christ. This Greek word for call near, parakaleo, appears in the
New Testament over 100 times. It isn't translated call near in English, so it's easy to miss.
It's also not always about God calling us near to him. It is a treasure hunt. There are a few
treasures. Call near is translated advocate in 1 John 2 which says, my little children,
I'm writing these things to you so that you don't sin. And if anyone does sin,
we have one who calls us near to the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.
Call near is translated comfort in 2 Corinthians 1 3-7. Here's my interpretation of verses 3 and 4
substituting call near. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of
mercies, and God who is all about calling us near, who says come to me in all our pressure
situations so that we may be able to call others near to him in all their pressure situations,
in the same way God calls us near. I am so grateful that our Lord's response in all our
pressure times is to call us near to himself. And he empowers those who have been called near
to call others near in the same way. So calling near is translated encouragement and exhortation.
And almost every time Paul wrote urge or beseech, that word was call near.
I can't think of anything more comforting, helpful, and encouraging than God calling me near.
But I haven't always felt that way. For a long time my mind and feelings resisted.
My own understanding and perspective just couldn't wrap around his too-good-to-be-possible
truths. But Holy Spirit still called me near and he showed me that I could say yes to him,
even when my mind and feelings resisted.
In my daily circumstances, negativity still rises up sometimes.
But Holy Spirit keeps calling me near and empowers me to reconnect with God instead.
I've gotten excited about other Greek words that inform my experiences with God.
Lord willing, I expect to share regularly what I'm seeing with those
words through the lens of us being those who are called near.
What does God calling you near mean to you? How does he call you near?
I look forward to reading your thoughts in the comments section below. Thank you.