S05E027, Swimming Pool Trinity, Part 1 of 3, Andy B 2 Minute Video
It’s hard to explain the Trinity. For a start it isn’t something you’ll find in your bibles. But the members of The Trinity are very obviously there: it is, at its heart, our human way of seeking to explain the relationship between God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit.
I’ve heard that relationship explained using water as having 3 separate states (gas, liquid, solid), yet still all still being water at their core even if they do look a bit different. I’ve also heard it as a yoghurt being made up of three parts, although that attempt at explaining The Trinity never made much sense to me if I’m honest.
In one sense it doesn’t really matter because the concept of how God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit operate and exist is far more important than any word or phrase we might use to paint that picture more simply. Actually, it would be disconcerting if the King of Kings and Lord or Lords could be easily explained. I’m rather glad it isn’t all that simple, as it leaves us more in awe of Him!
Whatever title we use, God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit are most simply described as three separate people (they are all a “Him”, and not a ‘what’ or a ‘her’).
They all operate separately of each other, and yet they also are the same - hence God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit.
It isn’t enough to say they are all the same, and it isn’t enough to say they are different. That is the limit of human understanding and why the scripture that talks about God’s ways not being our ways is so humbling and reassuring. We see the reverence that Jesus has for His father, for example: God is so much bigger than any of us, or any collectives of us and that is a VERY good thing.
However, with that said, I truly hope these three linked posts on The Trinity shed a little light on this most wonderful of relationships. They are simply illustrations designed to explain the relationship of God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit - that I hope may bring some comfort, and also keep in proper awe and reverence of just how much bigger God is than we are.
And how He still desires to spend time with us, allowing Himself to be limited by the fabric of ‘time’ in order to have that one to relationship with!
Anybody want to shout an Amen?!?
Also, if you haven’t already, go and check out the person who inspired this mini-series on the Trinity : God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit - David’s Daily Dose - because David writes in such a way that is wonderfully accessible – whoever you are – and also wonderfully simple and deep at the same time. It is a rarely seen gift!
Just a thought...
Andy B
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Transcript
[00:00:00] S05E027, Andy B 2 Minute Video: So another Andy B 2 Minute Video. And you might be, you might be wondering why this is called Swimming Pool Trinity.
[00:00:14] It's part of a three part series of Andy B's I'm gonna do for the next few days. And it's been inspired today, almost exclusively from David, and then a bit less of him, and a little bit more of me towards the end.
[00:00:25] So thank you David. We have David's Daily Dose for inspiring a few posts around this. But we were having a conversation about a, a post and he came up with this idea, and it really did ping something in my brain.
[00:00:37] And we were thinking about swimming pools and that you could look at the Trinity of God a little bit like the Pool Manager being the father of God, sorry, being God the father.
[00:00:47] You've got the Swimming Pool Cleaner. That would be the son, Jesus Christ.
[00:00:52] And then you'd have the Lifeguard, the Holy Spirit. And what a powerful example of how the Trinity functions.
[00:00:59] I've heard it [00:01:00] described in terms of water, ice, steam, and three parts. Then maybe I've heard about it as a yogurt. You can get three parts of a yogurt and trying to understand the Trinity, we are already restricted by our human vocabulary trying to explain a spiritual principle. But maybe this'll help you a little bit.
[00:01:21] The Swimming Pool Manager makes sure that everything is set up and ready and safe and good to go.
[00:01:27] The Swimming Pool Cleaner, Jesus keeping that swimming pool clean, maintained, making sure the water's clean.
[00:01:35] And then you have the Lifeguard, the Holy Spirit ready to dive in and help us when we get into trouble, to steer us in the right way.
[00:01:42] I remember seeing some swimming with some blind swimmers. And each person, each one of those lanes for the swimmers, there's somebody else and they have this long stick with a foam at the end. And, when that person gets towards the end of their lane, that person just taps 'em on the head, and they know it's time to turn around [00:02:00] and go back the other way.
[00:02:02] It's phenomenal to see how they're guided, a bit like the Lifeguard who watches over us. We can be busy swimming, we can't see all the dangers. We can be busy swimming, and we can not see something that's important, but the Holy Spirit is there, but Jesus is there keeping us safe from all these things we definitely can't see. And he is there to keep everything clean around us, to clean us up from the mess.
[00:02:25] It's a bit like the idea of a shower, when you're getting out the swimming pool, getting rid of all that chlorine. That's what Jesus does. He cleans us up of these things that we don't need to be taking into the next day.
[00:02:36] Swimming pool Trinity.
[00:02:38] Just a thought.