Substitutes for the Holy Spirit

Jews used to believe that consuming or touching the unclean would defile them, but they paid little attention to what was inside of them. Jesus flips the script on them to say, “‘Nothing outside a person can defile them by going into them. Rather, it is what comes out of a person that defiles them’ . . . He went on: ‘What comes out of a person is what defiles them. For it is from within, out of a person’s heart, that evil thoughts come—sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly. All these evils come from inside and defile a person’ ” (Mark 7:19, 20-23, NIV). People were used to pointing out evil around them, but they weren’t used to pointing to the source of that evil: their own hearts. We can point to the sexual immorality all around us and try to run, but we will find that we have no where to go. It’s everywhere. Why? Because it’s in our hearts. The sexual immorality we see around us is a result of our hardened, rebellious, broken hearts. While habits and behavioral changes can sometimes impact our hearts, it can be like taking Tylenol for a severe injury. You may be able to lessen the pain, but the injury still remains. Changing behavior and habits can lessen the temptation, but the lust still has a grip on your heart. So, how do we get a heart transformation? Second Corinthians 5:17 says, “This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!” (NLT). We know that Christ gives us a new life—and this transformation begins in the heart. While this is a glorious truth, we still struggle with sin on a daily basis. Paul speaks to this specifically in Romans 8, he reminds us that we are no longer controlled by our sinful nature: “Therefore, brothers and sisters, we have an obligation—but it is not to the flesh, to live according to it. For if you live according to the flesh, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live” (8:12-13, NIV). Christ has given us a new heart; and while we may have an inclination to return to our old ways of living, we can trust in Christ to renew our transformed hearts in his grace each day. Reflection/Discussion Question: What does it actually look like to trust in Christ’s grace to transform your heart?

Although Jesus is talking to his disciples in his final discourse recorded in John 14-17, much of what he says applies to all of his followers. So, although we can’t read the Bible to find out what is coming through the doors in our own lives, we can read about Jesus’s promise that obstacles will litter our path and threaten to make us stumble. We stumble when an obstacle is in our path that we weren’t expecting. In the same way, we stumble in our relationships with Jesus when we come to an obstacle that we weren’t expecting. Jesus warns his disciples to be ready so that they aren’t surprised when obstacles come, and he is warning us to be ready as well.  From the moment we become followers of Jesus, we are marked with a target on our backs for the schemes of the enemy. He will do whatever it takes to make us fall away. He also knows that what will make one person fall away is different than what will make another fall away. He is careful to place the right obstacle at the right time in order to make you stumble. Most people fall away from their faith when following Jesus isn’t what they expected it to be, but if we listen to Jesus’s warning and we expect obstacles to come, then we can be ready to meet them when they do. Reflection/Discussion Question: How can you be ready for obstacles in your path when it comes to following Jesus?