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 The Universal Translator
by Phil Ware One of the most laughable leaps of reality in most Sci-Fi movies and television shows is that everyone, from every planet, speaks English. Of course this reality is “simply” explained as the benefit of a special artificial intelligence that allows all species to communicate. This special AI is called “The Universal Translator.” What makes this Universal Translator so laughable is that we have a hard time communicating coherently across generations in our families, not to mention the challenges and difficulties of communicating with the billions of other people on our own little blue planet who speak thousands of other languages. To imagine we could speak our language and someone else could speak their own, no matter where they are from or whether or not anyone in our part of the universe has ever heard that language, is a pretty amazing leap of imagination. But it is only make believe, so we suspend our cynicism and play along, we can enjoy the show. But wouldn’t it be nice if... In reality, we don’t have to wish for The Universal Translator in our most important relationship of all: our relationship with God. When we become Christians, Jesus gives us the gift of the Holy Spirit and the Spirit makes us God’s children through the new birth (John 3:3-7; Acts 2:38-39; Acts 5:32; Titus 3:3-7). The Spirit cleanses us and makes us holy (Acts 26:15-18; 1 Corinthians 6:9-11; 2 Thessalonians 2:13; 1 Peter 1:1-2). He comes and dwells inside us, showing that we are God’s children and giving us full access to our Father in heaven (Romans 8:10-16; Galatians 4:6; Ephesians 2:18). The Spirit is the gift of God’s presence in us that makes us his holy dwelling (1 Corinthians 6:19-20) and provides us with God’s power (Ephesians 3:14-21). The Spirit is also at work to produce God’s character in us; he leads us in the direction that God would have us go (Galatians 5:18-25; cf. Romans 8:14) and empowers us to do what God would have us do (Romans 8:1-9). In addition to all of these blessing, the Holy Spirit has another critical function: the Spirit is The Universal Translator between our hearts and God. This is a genuine two-way blessing for us.
Second, the Holy Spirit also makes known our words and our thoughts to God, even the longings and emotions that we cannot articulate. Look at the promise we are given about the Spirit’s work in this regard: The Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express. And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with God’s will. (Romans 8:26-27)We can pray even when we don’t have words to say, because the Spirit takes our thoughts and yearnings and makes them known to God. We can be confident that we are heard and understood by the Creator of the Universe, because he has given us The Universal Translator. So what is our response to this gift? Confidence and commitment! We should be confident that we can know the basic truth that God wants to have and confident that our heart’s desires and intentions are made known to him. We should also be deeply committed to seeking that will of God and searching the Scriptures for his truth, asking that the Spirit make our Father’s desires known to us. We have an incredible gift in the Holy Spirit. While Sci-Fi may presume on the presence of a universal translator, we can be confident that in the Spirit, we have the genuine Universal Translator who makes known the will of God to us, and who makes known the longings of our heart to our Abba Father!
Author: Phil Ware Publication Date: September 3, 2001
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