Last Monday evening we talked a bit about the Holy Spirit -- as someone put it, the "red headed stepchild" of the Trinity -- and what it means to be led by the Spirit, or to walk in the Spirit. I thought it might be helpful to revisit those subjects.

First of all, we really have to avoid the tendency to think of the Holy Spirit as a thing, or a force, or some vague "cosmic entity." Even the idea of a "spirit guide" is more New Age gobbledegook than Christian spirituality. No, the Holy Spirit is a Person -- is, of course, God Himself -- and so we should try to protect ourselves from thinking of the Holy Spirit as somehow more mecurial or mysterious or "harder to get in touch with" than God Himself. We feel that way often enough about God the Father, don't we? My fear is that by "spiritualizing" -- and by that, I mean "de-personalizing" -- the Holy Spirit, we make the idea of being led or guided by Him more ambiguous, and therefore more difficult, than it needs to be.

But let's be clear: It's difficult. It's all difficult. I don't know about you, but I find "loving my neighbor as myself" to be one of the hardest commands in Scripture, and it freaks me out every time I think about it. It ranks second only to "love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength." I don't know why anyone would think Jesus was somehow making God-following easier by encapsulating the Law in those two lovey-dovey commandments. They freak me the heck out. I'd much rather have a checklist of quantifiable commands.

My point is that following Jesus in the will of God under the power of the Holy Spirit is hard enough in the clarity of the things we know are true. Let's not add more difficulty to the life of discipleship by worrying about whether an apparently "neutral" decision is following the Spirit or not.

Let me be also clear in saying that it is awesome when you are concerned about following the Spirit. If only more Christians thought that way. I can think of a lot worse things to worry about than whether or not one is listening to the Holy Spirit or not. So it's not the concern or the desire I would try to steer one away from; it's the angst and worry. I hope that makes sense.

Let me try to make the ideas more concrete. Last Monday night someone mentioned making decisions and asked how one would know you were really following the Spirit when making a decision. There is a huuuuge overlap in this question with the notion of finding God's will for your life. Please review the stuff I said about that subject in this previous blog post, because I think it is directly applicable. Remember, when we talk about the Holy Spirit, we are talking about God Himself, so figuring out how to "follow the Spirit" is practically indistinguishable from "following God's will."

But on specific questions or concerns, here's how I would start thinking through a Spiritual decision:

1. Ask yourself if the reason you have a concern about the decision is because you really know it is right or wrong. Sometimes -- and it's hard to say this to some folks -- "waiting on the Lord" is just an excuse to delay doing the hard thing we know is right. And sometimes it's just a way to not have to make a decision. Waiting on the Lord is a good thing. Laziness, which is just failure to trust, is not. Knowing the difference is key, and the person in the best position to ascertain the difference in such situations is the person delaying. Be honest with yourself.

2. All things being equal, ask yourself if you have consulted the Bible on the issue. This is another tough mandate, but I think it's very important, because sometimes we very easily skip first things and just start wondering what the Holy Spirit's take is on a particular issue related to our individual lives, and we don't even think about the fact that He has inspired an entire volume whose sole purpose is for God to reveal Himself and the knowledge of Himself to us. How we are to live is in the Bible. How we are to make decisions is in the Bible. How we are to follow Christ is in the Bible. I have a hard time believing we could come up with a situation or predicament so new and innovative that there'd be nothing God said about it in His written Word. But I don't know: maybe you're on the cutting edge of spiritual predicaments . . .

3. Ask yourself if the decision you're making, the position you're entering, the life you're living, etc. will or does honor God. Can you make this decision, be in this situation, and live this lifestyle in harmony with what God has already revealed to you? The truth is, if you're a believer in Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit is inside you. He's not some ethereal power slipping through your hands at every reach. (I know you've seen the yahoos on TBN pumping and scooping "the Spirit" like He's pixie dust, throwing it around and even blowing it at each other like some sort of holy minty freshness, but, um, no. Just no. That's not the Holy Spirit.) The Bible says our bodies are the temples of God, that the Spirit resides in us, so everywhere you go, the Spirit is there. With that in mind, how are you treating your temple? No, I'm not talking about smoking or drinking or getting tattoos or dressing casual or any of the other Christian liberty issues that "your body is the temple" verse gets trotted out for. I'm talking about this: do you use your Spirit-filled temple for the glory of God, or for sin?

Of course you do both. We all do. (If you've figured out how to stop sinning, please let us know in the comments. Thanks ahead of time.) The opposite of living by the Spirit, then, is not making practical, reasonable, or sometimes hard decisions. Nor is the opposite of living by the Spirit having doubts or concerns or lack of knowledge of the future. The opposite of living by the Spirit is living by the flesh. If the decision we make, position we take, or lifestyle we lead is led by things that are anti-Spiritual, we are living by the flesh.

Let's look to Galatians, chapter 5 for a minute. It speaks directly to be guided by the Holy Spirit:

But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh. For the flesh sets its desire against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; for these are in opposition to one another, so that you may not do the things that you please. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the Law. Now the deeds of the flesh are evident, which are: immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes, dissenssions, factions, envying, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these, of which I forewarn you just as I forewarned you that those who practice such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God. (vv.6-21)

This is actually pretty clear stuff here. It's not very comfortable, since who among us can't find themselves in that long and apparently comprehensive list of sins? But what Paul is saying is that if you are one committed to such a life, one in which the characteristic is "immorality, impurity, sensuality, etc.", you are not living by the Spirit, but by the flesh.

The difference, according to this passage, can be distilled to this: Do you do just what you please? Or do you do what pleases God?

So how do you know? That's the fundamental question we had Monday evening, and it's the one we always have. How do you know if you are living by the Spirit? If you are following the Spirit? Is it a hunch? Is it intuition? Do you just know?

Not exactly. Continuing in Galatians 5, Paul writes in verses 22-23:

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.

I know of no better measuring stick for our Spiritual growth, no more reliable barometer of our Spiritual condition. Hold this rigorous measure to yourself as you determine how closely you walk with the Spirit. How are you doing in love? In joy? In patience? Some of us obviously struggle with some areas more than others. I confess to doing well with goodness and faithfulness, but sucking miserably at patience and joy.

I hope we can make following the Spirit more practical and less mystical. I don't believe God plays games with us. When you truly desire to do His will, you will be honored, even in and through your mistakes or stumbles. Remember that faith isn't about making perfect decisions and having no difficulties or consequences to our actions. Faith is trusting God in our decisions and difficulties and consequences.

You may have noticed I tried to capitalize every instance of "spiritual" or "spirituality" in this post. I was challenged to think that way last year. I think it's a great way to focus, to remind ourselves that Christians are not called to a vague, do-goodism called "spirituality." Lots of people consider themselves "spiritual" people. But we are not called to spirituality. Christian Spirituality is about knowing God, following Jesus, and being filled and led by the Holy Spirit. So our Spirituality has at its center not moral values or lofty ideals or mystical affectations, but a Person. You can't have a relationship with an idea or a set of behaviors. The center of our Spirituality is the Spirit of the living God.