Published by The nature of the human person before sin entered his being was righteousness and holiness. This is evident by the way he related to God in the Garden of Eden. God had warned Adam that if he ate from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil he would die, Genesis 2:17. By eating from the forbidden tree, Adam and Eve sinned against God and were thus forbidden to eat from the tree of life which was also in the Garden of Eden. The consequence of this was a separation from God and a miss of eternal life with God.
Scripture says that God is holy and those who worship Him must purify themselves. Indeed David writes “Who may ascend into the hill of the Lord? Or who may stand in His holy place? He who has clean hands and a pure heart, who has not lifted up his soul to an idol” Psalm 24: 3-4. God has set standards for us just like He did with Adam and Eve.
Until we accept Christ into our lives, we are separated from God and live outside the kingdom of God and have no guarantee of eternal life. Jesus Christ speaking to Nicodemus, who wanted to understand the means to entering the kingdom of God, said “unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God — unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit” John 3:3, 5-6. At the garden of Eden Man lost eternal life and was separated from God. Through Christ man is assured eternal life and His fellowship with God is restored through the spiritual birth.
Peter preaching after Christ’s death and resurrection implored on those listening to “repent, — and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit” Acts 2:38. Repentance would mean accepting that you need God and changing direction to follow God’s will for your life. Baptism in the name of Jesus Christ is a symbol of dying to self and choosing to live according to God’s will in Christ. Those who live according to the Spirit set themselves on the things of the spirit, “for to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace” Romans 8:5-6.
Speaking to a Samaritan woman at the well, Christ reveals that the true worshipper must “worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him. God is Spirit and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth” John: 23-24. This suggests that there is a particular kind of worshiper that the Father is interested in and there is also a worship that is acceptable to Him. It is also suggest that our worship of God requires a transformation in our thinking in order to conform to the will of God concerning our relationship with Him.
By His own testimony Christ said that He is the “way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the father except through me” John 14:6. To worship in truth we must start by knowing the “Truth” through whom we have received the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit whom Jesus refers to as the “Spirit of truth” is our help in knowing the will of God. He dwells with us and is in us and through him we have “received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, ‘Abba Father’”, Romans 8:15. The Holy Spirit is our “helper” who teaches us all things and brings to remembrance what we have learnt, John 14: 15-16, 25. He also helps us in our weaknesses and “makes intercession” for us “according to the will of God” Romans 8:27
The believer is called upon to be different from the unbeliever in manners, talk and action based on the experience of knowing Christ. There ought to be a difference between the old person apart from Christ and the new person in Christ. Paul writes “put you off concerning your former conduct the old man which grows corrupt according to deceitful lusts and be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and that you put on the new man which was created according to God in true righteousness and holiness” Ephesians 4:22-24.
The spiritual person does not walk as the “rest of the gentiles walk, in the futility of their mind, having their understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God” Ephesians 4:17. This in reality is the natural tendency of humans which comes from intellectual pride, rationalization and excuses for their actions contrary to God‘s will. We have the Holy Spirit who convicts us against such tendency and helps us to conform to the will of God because those who are “Christ’s have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires”. Galatians 5:22-24.
Those who have come to the knowledge of Christ chose to be led by the spirit “for as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons (daughters) of God”, Romans 8:14. Being led by the Spirit involves the desire to hear, the readiness to obey God’s word, and the sensitivity to discern, between personal feelings and His prompting. If we adopt this lifestyle we will bear fruit according to the Spirit which is manifested by “love, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self control”. Galatians 5:22-23.
Very well put Wanjiku.