“Sometimes, you’ve gotta just listen to the Spirit.”

When someone says that, usually the Spirit has told them to do what they feel like. Listening to the Spirit is doing something that makes you look good—perhaps something bold and risky but nevertheless tied up with your dreams and ambitions. The evangelical world has tethered obedience to the spirit with a modernized prosperity gospel: God wants you to self-actualize.

In truth, God’s Spirit does want you find your identity and grow into your potential. But that looks like growing in Christ-likeness, which is others-oriented and soaked in self-sacrifice. The way we mishandle the Holy Spirit in 21st century America may not come in extravagant prophecies or blind beliefs about healings, but we’re still off base.

As I read J.V. Fesko’s new release on the Holy Spirit, it got me considering the ways we use the Spirit as a less flagrant hall pass to claim that following my personal agenda is just following God.

You can read my full review of the book for ByFaith.