Breaking free from guilt-based religion

"How did you break free  from religious Christianity?" I asked Tony early one morning last week.  

"There were two things," he said. "George Tarleton was the first. The second was the role of the Holy Spirit in my life."

It's interesting how often in the New Testament, living according to the law is contrasted with living by the Spirit.

For example, Romans 7:6 says:

But now we have been released from the law, for we died to it and are no longer captive to its power. Now we can serve God, not in the old way of obeying the letter of the law, but in the new way of living in the Spirit.

2 Corinthians 3:6

The old written covenant ends in death; but under the new covenant, the Spirit gives life.

Galatians 5:18:

But when you are directed by the Spirit, you are not under obligation to the law of Moses.

Can you imagine anything better than living at the time of Jesus, able to see him, speak with him, touch him?

Jesus told his disciples that it was better for them that he went away because if he did, he would send the Holy Spirit to them. (John 16:7) The Holy Spirit guides us into all truth; he brings glory to Jesus by telling us whatever he receives from Jesus. (John 16:13-15)  This Holy Spirit dwells in every true believer. (John 14:17; Acts 2:38-39)

So why is it that so many believers still live a life of rules and regulations?

I think it's sometimes because we don't trust the role of the Holy Spirit in our lives. We've never learned to listen to those inner promptings of the Spirit within us and  to act on them. If we dare to trust those inner whispers really are the Holy Spirit, and to respond to them, we will learn what it is to live life in the Spirit.

Under the new covenant, we can live a life of freedom from the law by following the Holy Spirit. 

What does it look life for you to live in the Spirit, to be directed by the Spirit?