1 Timothy 6:11 – But thou, O man of God, flee these things; and follow after righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, meekness.
How do we follow after God? Some might say by faith. Others may say in spirit. Still others may say by listening to your heart. All these methods are good when properly done, but they all leave too much for interpretation. If Almighty God commanded us to follow Him, then He would not leave it to guess work.
Thus we trust that the Old and New Testaments tell us how to follow Him, obey Him, and please Him. Jesus consistently instructed disciples to take up their cross and follow Him. How? We must look further into the teachings of Christ and His closest disciples to know. They tell the rest of the story. If we fail to heed instruction, then our hearts, our spirits, and our hearts will not know which way to go. We will be easily misled and misguided.
The words of the Apostle Paul to Timothy are clear, and they echo the teachings of Christ and the New Testament writers overall. We must pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, and meekness (or self-control). These, and other attributes of the Fruit of the Spirit, we should follow with all our strength. We shall be known by our fruit (Matthew 7:17-20).
Lastly, we all follow, but we do not always flee when we should. There is no shame in retreating from sin. In fact the Bible tells us, “The Lord is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart; and saveth such as be of a contrite spirit” (Psalm 34:18). Let us run headlong away from sin into the arms of Christ.