4 Ways We Would Live If We Didn't Listen To The Holy Spirit
The Holy Spirit isn't a second-rate-God. The Spirit is equal to the Father and the Son and the Helper God the Father has given us so that we can walk with Him all of our days.
Recently I was reflecting on this question, “What would a person be like if they didn’t listen to the Holy Spirit at all?”
In many evangelical circles, especially among Christians with a conservative theological background, the Holy Spirit has hardly discussed and only discussed when necessary in recent decades.
However, as we move into more and more of a post-Christian culture, the rise of conversation about the Holy Spirit has increased.
And this makes sense.
In a Christian culture we know what to do.
We know how to behave because everyone thinks, behaves, and functions similarly. We have a set of shared morals that everyone lives by, which means we’re hardly put in situations where we’re unsure of how to live godly or unsure of how to have holy conversations with our neighbors.
In a post-Christian culture, it seems that no one wants to hear about God. It’s not normal to talk about going to church, and it’s not even normal to go to church. It’s not well received to have a standard of morals and it’s certainly not well received to live convictionally according to the truth we see in the Scriptures.
So, what do we do when we’re unsure? We ask the Holy Spirit for help - the Helper God the Father has given us to guide us into all truth and holiness.
But what would a person be like if they didn’t listen to the Holy Spirit at all? Non-Christians are certainly in this camp, but I think those of us who follow Jesus can find ourselves in this situation at times as well. According to scripture, I think there are at least 4 ways we would function if we didn’t listen to the Holy Spirit.
We wouldn’t be convicted of sin
We wouldn’t be able to discern what is true
We wouldn’t grow in godliness
We wouldn’t live on mission
First, we wouldn’t be convicted of sin. We do see scripture to back this up. In John 16:7-8 Jesus says to His disciples:
“But in fact, it is best for you that I go away, because if I don’t, the Advocate won’t come. If I do go away, then I will send him to you. And when he comes, he will convict the world of its sin, and of God’s righteousness, and of the coming judgment.”
- John 16:7-8
So what is the Holy Spirit going to do when He comes? He’s going to help us see God’s righteousness and convict us of our sin and the judgment that comes with that.
Here’s the problem, though. If we don’t know His voice and don’t listen to Him, we won’t be convicted of anything. It doesn’t matter if He’s here and talking, if we don’t know how to listen, nothing He says will impact us.
If we don’t learn to know the voice of the Spirit then we’ll live life as if God is never trying to get our attention about the sin we live in or decisions we’re making. We will find out when we meet Him face-to-face that He was speaking to us the entire time, we just didn’t know how to listen.
Second, we wouldn’t be able to discern what is true. Staying in John 16, Jesus says in verse 13:
“When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all truth.”
—John 16:13a
If we are people who do not know how to listen to the Holy Spirit we increase the likelihood of being led into false ideologies.
One growing trend over the last several years (I’m sure it happened before this time too, I just wasn’t aware of it) is that the loudest, most passionate person in the room, or on the TV, is the one who is usually seen as the most trustworthy person.
They make really convincing arguments and they use their loud and passionate speech to distract us from one really important fact: some of what they’re saying is not true.
When we don’t listen to the Holy Spirit, we won’t have any filter there for us to raise the red flag when something we hear isn’t true. And, newsflash, a lot of the things we hear today are not true. Sometimes statements are fully untrue and an outright lie, but those types of statements are rarely convincing. The most convincing of statements is the one that is partially true. For whatever reason, our hearts/minds/souls leap towards half truths like it’s a piece of cake on our birthday. We love a good half truth.
We need the Holy Spirit to wave the red flag in our spirit’s to say, “This isn’t fully true.” And then lead us into what is actually true. Not listening to the Holy Spirit will only lead to us believing lies.
Third, we wouldn’t grow in godliness. Way back in the Old Testament, God told us how crucial the Holy Spirit would be in our lives.
“And I will put my Spirit in you so that you will follow my decrees and be careful to obey my regulations.”
—Ezekiel 36:27
So what is the role of the Spirit? To cause us to follow God’s law. It’s the holy inspiration that pushes us in the direction of obedience to God. We don’t muster up this desire on our own, it’s the Spirit in us that pushes us in that direction by convicting us of sin and giving us the power to understand and obey the commandments.
If we don’t listen to the Holy Spirit, we will not have the capacity to live godly lives.
Have you ever been driving with Apple or Google Maps (or Waze if you’re hip) and completely missed your turn because you were zoned out and forgot to listen to the next set of directions? If we don’t learn to listen to the Holy Spirit, that is our entire lives. God would be speaking to us daily yet we would be totally unaware of His instruction and guidance.
We would be totally unaware of the power available to us to help us live out the instructions we do understand. Listening to the Holy Spirit daily is our only chance at following God’s commands and growing in godliness.
Finally, if we are people who don’t listen to the Holy Spirit, we would be people who don’t live on mission.
“But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. And you will be my witnesses, telling people about me everywhere…”
—Acts 1:8
So, the power comes from the Holy Spirit and that power enables us to be witnesses everywhere we go in the world. If we do not listen to the Holy Spirit, we have little chance at being a witness in our workplace, neighborhood, or anywhere because we’re not tapped into the power that God gave us to witness.
Again, in Matthew 28:18-20, Jesus tells his disciples to go make disciples of all nations, baptizing and teaching those new disciples everything He had taught the disciples. Then he finishes that statement with, “...and behold, I am with you always, even until the end of the age.”
There is a clear connection between the presence of the Holy Spirit and living on mission. When that connection is broken, the consequences are displayed in the reality that we will simply not live on mission.
You may think, well I just don’t know if I actually do hear the Holy Spirit. How can I know if I’m even hearing Him? There would be two things I would say.
Jesus says in John 10 that His sheep will hear His voice.
“The gatekeeper opens the gate for him, and the sheep recognize his voice and come to him. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. After he has gathered his own flock, he walks ahead of them, and they follow him because they know his voice.”
—John 10:3-4
So, if you are one of God’s sheep, you have heard and do hear His voice. This is a fact, no matter your perceived experience.
Reflect on your walk with Jesus
Per our first point above, if you’ve ever been convicted of sin, you’ve heard God’s voice. You would never convict yourself of sin and Satan is certainly not trying to get you to live holy. So if you’ve been convicted of sin you have heard the voice of God. If you’ve been convicted and repented, you’ve heard the voice of God and responded to it.
Similarly, if you’ve ever been urged to live holy in a way that you had no explanation for wanting to live that way other than God, you’ve heard God’s voice. He’s the one who causes us to live holy.
So chances are, you are hearing God’s voice and you’re responding to it. So that’s awesome! The task is to get more and more familiar with God’s voice. You can start by praying a simple prayer as often as possible.
“Holy Spirit, help me be more familiar with your voice. Help me to recognize when it’s You speaking to me. Make your voice the loudest voice I hear.”
As you read the Bible consistently and pray the prayer above you will start recognizing how often God speaks to you. The Holy Spirit will never say anything that doesn’t align with Scripture and the tone of voice the Holy Spirit uses will always align with the tone of voice Jesus and the Father use in the Scriptures.
There is an entire life of listening and following God that the Holy Spirit inviting us into. Let’s not miss out on that.
—Brandon