A friend of mine was lamenting their religious counselor's inability to give them things to do in order to deal with the problems they were being counseled over. In general, there is nothing wrong with that thought process, but it sheds some light on a problem within the greater Body of Christ. We seem to always be in need of something to do in order to change our lives. Have you ever been asked or asked someone anything like the following?
"Can you give me a scripture to help me with _________?"
"What does the Bible say about ____________?"
"Will God __________ if I __________?"
Now, depending on what you fill the blanks in with, these could be very valid questions. However, in many instances they are an indication of dependency on being told what to do rather than understanding who you are in Christ and being dependent on the leading of the indwelling Holy Spirit. If we are not careful, this is one way that we end up being man followers, getting duped by the latest Christian fad or not having a faith of our own.
"I appeal to you, brothers, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree with one another so that there may be no divisions among you and that you may be perfectly united in mind and thought. My brothers, some from Chloe's household have informed me that there are quarrels among you. What I mean is this: One of you says, "I follow Paul"; another, "I follow Apollos"; another, "I follow Cephas"; still another, "I follow Christ." Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Were you baptized into the name of Paul? I am thankful that I did not baptize any of you except Crispus and Gaius, so no one can say that you were baptized into my name. (Yes, I also baptized the household of Stephanas; beyond that, I don't remember if I baptized anyone else.) For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel—not with words of human wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power." 1 Corinthians 1:10-17
I don't know anybody who is a follower of Apollos, Cephas, or even Paul. But, I do know a lot of people who follow Luther, Calvin, the Pope and many other religious figures, dead or alive, right or wrong. And all of them will say they "follow Christ." In my opinion, this isn't the result of leaning on the Holy Spirit to guide them and teach them the truths of Scripture. This is the result of being misled by charasmatic leaders, influential groups and your own understanding. The byproduct of this type of behavior is bouncing from church to church, book to book and teacher to teacher, without any foundation in what the Christian life is all about. As Paul asks in his first letter to the Corinthians, "Is Christ divided?" Whether we admit it or not, the answer would seem to be "Yes, Christ is divided." You will have so-called Christians that will hold on to the ideas they have accepted as truth, despite the fact the Bible contradicts them, rather than humbling themselves and reasoning from the scriptures. On the other hand, you will have Christians, like the one who was seeing a counselor, who don't know what to believe about anything and are trapped in an endless cycle of searching for something to do in order to go on with life and in need of somebody to tell them what that something is. And if you are not relying on the Holy Spirit to teach you truth how will you know if what you are being told is the truth. You will not!
"...but God has revealed it to us by his Spirit. The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God. For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the man's spirit within him? In the same way no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. We have not received the spirit of the world but the Spirit who is from God, that we may understand what God has freely given us. This is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, expressing spiritual truths in spiritual words. The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned. The spiritual man makes judgments about all things, but he himself is not subject to any man's judgment: "For who has known the mind of the Lord that he may instruct him? "But we have the mind of Christ." 1 Corinthians 2: 10-16
Regardless of what it is we are faced with in life, the first place to go to with our problem is to God. But, if you have been taught to rely on anything other than God, than you are risking never getting answers to your questions. You are cursed to always seek a system, a formula, some guidelines or a method in order to assist you. And there are countless options from which to choose from out there. And they all have a "celebrity" behind them and a large following. But, the solution to our problems we face is to rely on the Holy Spirit, the mind of Christ, to teach us the answer. That answer is always to come back to who we are in Christ and the realization that we have everything we need in Him. After all, if we are honest, most of the problems we face in life are the result of us trying to get from the world that which we have already been given by God. And the world only can offer the cheap alternative of sin as the means in which to attempt this futile act. Thus, when we run into trouble we seek direction on how to change our behavior from other people rather than renewing our mind on the truths of the Gospel. I don't say all this to diminish the role that dear brothers and sisters in Christ play in our lives. However, if they teach us anything of any value it will be validated by the Holy Spirit. And that is when we know we have been taught the truth. There are many ideas out there that appeal to the flesh. They are the product of human wisdom geared towards trying to get us to perfect ourselves. But, turning to God first, in Christ, is an admission that we can't perfect ourselves and need to turn to the One who made us perfect. By doing so we are able to discern what is of God and allow Him to lead us from within instead of relying on the tenants of men which comes from human wisdom.
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