In the beginning, when “the Lord God formed man from the dust of the ground,” God “breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being.” (Gen.2:7) Our Creator God breathes physical life into his creatures, then and now. That is the frame of reference for John the evangelist as he describes Christ Jesus’ first resurrection appearance to his assembled disciples. He tells us that Jesus “breathed on them and said to them, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit!” Because ruach in Hebrew can mean breath, wind spirit, Christ Jesus is saying, in effect, “Receive the Breath of God, the Spirit of God in a new and different way. Be born to a new life filled with the Spirit of Love, to a life of open-hearted, self-giving, a life of peace and unity in harmonious fellowship with one another.”

The breath of life that Christ Jesus is offering is on a different plane from our physical life, a life of deepening relationship with God and the world. It is up to us to choose to accept or reject the gift of inner life that Christ has prepared for those who follow him. It will not be forced upon us. We can choose to ignore the gift, to go on walking in the shadows of life on the surface of existence, continuing on our self-centered way, hiding from the uncertainty of change, anxiously avoiding anything that might disturb the status quo. Or we can risk surrendering to God’s Love, inhaling deeply of God’s breath, letting it fill every fiber of our being with newness of life, allowing the refining fire of God’s presence to burn away the dross we have accumulated along the way.

The choice is ours. Our outer life will continue either way. The question is: do we allow our inner life to stagnate, wither and die without the breath of life, or do we choose to accept Gods’ breath of life, to receive the Holy Spirit, thus enabling our inner life to grow deeper and stronger in God’s grace?