If we’re honest with ourselves…
‘I want to do what is good, but I don’t. I don’t want to do what is wrong, but I do it anyway.’
Those are the words of an early follower of Christ. We all struggle with this.
‘I have discovered this principle of life—that when I want to do what is right, I inevitably do what is wrong. I love God’s law with all my heart. But there is another power within me that is at war with my mind. This power makes me a slave to the sin that is still within me. Oh, what a miserable person I am! Who will free me from this life that is dominated by sin and death? Thank God! The answer is in Jesus Christ our Lord. So you see how it is: In my mind I really want to obey God’s law, but because of my sinful nature I am a slave to sin.’ Romans 7:19-25
Followers of Christ are sometimes called ‘people of the book’ but that is missing the main part of being a follower of Christ. Christ said:
‘You search the Scriptures because you think they give you eternal life. But the Scriptures point to me!’ John 5:39
Thus Christ was the fulfilment of the Scriptures. However, when Christ was on earth he warned his followers that he would be returning to God, which sounded like really bad news to them. But he promised there would be help for us. Before he returned to God Christ said this:
‘And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another encourager, who will never leave you. He is the Holy Spirit, who leads into all truth. The world cannot receive him, because it isn’t looking for him and doesn’t recognize him. But you know him, because he lives with you now and later will be in you. No, I will not abandon you as orphans—I will come to you.‘ John 14:15-18
When Christ was killed his followers were distraught. It wasn’t just the grief of losing someone they loved it was much worse. They were frightened that the authorities would arrest them and that some of them would be killed.
But Christ didn’t stay dead. Three days after they put him in the grave he got up and showed himself to his followers. He even came and had meals with them. At one of those meals Christ said:
‘Do not leave Jerusalem until the Father sends you the gift he promised, as I told you before… you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. And you will be my witnesses, telling people about me everywhere—in Jerusalem, throughout Judea, in Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.‘ Acts 1:4-8
And when the Holy Spirit came the followers who had been hiding in rooms in Jerusalem suddenly found they had the power to do what they previously had found impossible.
This was something Christ himself explained:
‘I tell you the truth, the Son can do nothing by himself. He does only what he sees the Father doing. Whatever the Father does, the Son also does.‘ John 5:19
The main part of following Christ is to listen to the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit will tell us what the Father is doing so like Christ we can do what the Father is doing.
Listening to the Holy Spirit can be difficult at first and we might wonder if we have heard correctly. Because the Scriptures are important and point to Christ, the Holy Spirit will not be telling us to do something that is against the Scriptures. He will never be telling us to kill, to steal, to lie or do anything against the law of God. If we think we are hearing the God tell us to kill, to steal or to lie then that is not God, but a voice against God, that is Satan.
When Christ promised the Holy Spirit it was a real gift to us:
‘I am leaving you with a gift—peace of mind and heart. And the peace I give is a gift the world cannot give.‘ John 14:27