How do you follow Jesus?
Sometimes I get it all wrong.
How do you follow Jesus?
Does it feel like following Jesus is like walking through a field of landmines? You’re walking, but you’re walking nervously. Maybe your life consists of avoiding a laundry list of sins you’re scared to fall into and engaging in conversation with others, hesitantly, hoping not to say the “wrong thing” according to your Christian beliefs.
Or —
Do you carry a sense of light-heartedness with the Lord? Do you feel free to follow and obey Jesus without hyper-analyzing your every action? Are you at rest? Are you able to enjoy each moment “weighed down” by the peace that comes from God’s presence? Perhaps you wake up every day joyfully seeking God’s work in the world.
I’ve been both people.
In some moments, I find myself totally free in the presence of God. Confident. Joyful. Moving in power that comes from the Spirit. In those moments, I resonate with the Psalmist.
For it is you who light my lamp;
the Lord my God lightens my darkness.
For by you I can run against a troop,
and by my God I can leap over a wall.
This God—his way is perfect;
the word of the Lord proves true;
he is a shield for all those who take refuge in him.—Psalm 18:28-30 (ESV)
In other moments, I find myself completely uncertain. Hesitant to speak my mind. Unsure if I’m wanted in conversations. Paralyzed by my own insecurities. Concerned that my steps forward will lead into disobedience to God and problems with people. In those moments, I run straight into the wall I lept over the day before.
If you’re like me, you've found yourself in both situations, sometimes even in the same week, day, or moment.
Last week, I had two meetings back to back. In the first conversation, I was confident, Spirit-led, and internally at rest. In the second conversation, I felt panicked inside. I was insecure and uncertain about what I should or shouldn’t say.
What was the difference?
I believe the difference could be summed up by where I focused my attention.
In the first conversation, I focused my attention on the leading of the Spirit.
In the second conversation, I focused my attention on my own ability to have that conversation.
To use Biblical language, I focused on the Spirit in the first and on my flesh in the second.
But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.
—Galatians 5:6 (ESV)
The Spirit leads to freedom.
Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.
—2 Corinthians 3:17 (ESV)
If you’ve wondered what God wants for you in any specific area of your life, it’s simple. Freedom. But for those of us who wake up with hesitancy to navigate life because of our fear of sinning or insecurity about our relationships and conversations, we don’t know freedom. At the very least, we’re not experiencing it.
Our only shot at experiencing freedom is by being led by the Holy Spirit. Galatians 5 says, “walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.”
It doesn’t say, “walk by the Spirit, but you should still worry about not gratifying the desires of the flesh.”
When we are led by the Spirit, we are guaranteed to be led into what? A spirit-filled life. There is no scenario in which the Holy Spirit leads us into sin or insecurity. It’s impossible. The Spirit leads us into godliness and security in Christ. Into peace and away from fear.
A Mindset Shift
Those of us who follow Christ genuinely are hyper-aware of our need to live godly lives and make much of Jesus among our friends and family. Unfortunately, in our focus, we often miss the mark on how to do that well. We’ll spend most of our time focusing on what we shouldn’t do (i.e. trying to make sure we don’t cuss around our unbelieving friends) and very little of our time on what the Holy Spirit is doing.
God has given you the Holy Spirit for the sake of freedom. Yet when our focus is on ourselves, we’re slipping back into a life of slavery.
Before Christ, we focused on ourselves to do whatever we wanted to do (sin), but now we’re focused on ourselves to try not to do those things. It’s slavery of a different flavor. We weren’t made to focus our attention on ourselves.
We need a mindset shift. We need to set our minds on Christ and focus our attention on the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives. In doing so, we’ll live the life of freedom we desire. We’ll live a godly life. We won’t gratify the desires of our flesh. We’ll make much of Jesus.
And when our sin does show itself we’ll be prepared to put it to death in the power of the Holy Spirit because we’re already in step with Him.
Thanks for reading along.
—Brandon