Surely, the only teaching that Christians need is Christ crucified and whatever else it takes to make God real to us so we can know His love for us? Otherwise, we fall into the trap of working towards living the kind of life we ought to live, if we had the Holy Spirit moving freely in our lives. It is a massive task to try to take the place of God in every area of your life! There is no way that reading Christian books can take the place of the Holy Spirit.
Principles and formulas teaching basically tell Christians the kind of life they should be living, if they had the Holy Spirit leading them in all areas of their life. I suppose we get the idea that if we start living right for a while, perhaps just in certain areas of our life, then God will then take over for us. But this way of thinking is refuted in the Bible.
What Must I Do To Experience God?
In Mark 10:17, someone came to Jesus and asked Him what he must do to inherit eternal life. Notice the emphasis on what he must do. Eternal life in this context is the life-giving presence of God in-dwelling the spirit and soul of man, in other words, the Holy Spirit and the divine nature. This man was living according to the law, in his own words, he said that he kept the Ten Commandments (Mark 10:19-20).
This man wanted another rule to live by, one that would bring him the power of God, instead of him having to make such efforts in his own strength to keep rules. Therefore, Jesus gave him a commandment to follow: sell all he had, give his money to the poor and follow Jesus (Mark 10:21). This is exactly that the law does: it invites a person to try to live right according to what they do, and then it puts an impossible burden on them. The temptation of keeping rules is that they often seem to appear do-able. But it is only when you try to do them that you realise that they are not as simple as you thought they would be.
Seek Righteousness First
Jesus Himself said that we should seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness. Then, everything we need, such as food and clothing, will be added to us (Matthew 6:33). Have you ever wondered how “these things” will be added to you? It is simple: knowing that you are right with God because of what Jesus has done and not because of what you have done. Knowing you’re right with God places you in a position whereby the Holy Spirit will move in your life.
This enables you to make all the right decisions that will make the attainment of material provision something that is easy for you to do. When we “seek” what we shall eat and what we shall wear – it usually means we worry about something; we think to ourselves, “I need such-and-such”; we panic, we wonder how we can get that thing, and we mentally picture what our life will be like if we don’t get what we need. When we don’t worry about something, we are better able to come up with a solution.
Jesus did not tell us to seek righteousness first, and then seek after material provision. No, according to Jesus, all the things that we need (God knows we need them) will be added to us. The kingdom of God is within us (Luke 17:21). The kingdom of God is the Holy Spirit indwelling you – that is what we are to seek after first. Notice how righteousness (knowing we are right with God, not keeping rules) and the kingdom of God (the Holy Spirit living in you) – both go together?
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