Living in Christ

We must bring the commandments in the New Testament to Jesus to see how they apply to us before we act on them. Otherwise what we have is dead religion.
It is not enough to read the New Testament, observe the many commands therein, and then try to obey them. If we are to walk with Christ as we should, we must ask the Lord Jesus how a given command applies to us right now.
A believer wrote to me recently and asked how we are to respond to the evil that is increasing in America. He wanted to know if we should be a pacifist, or should we fight for what we believe.
For many people, this is a difficult decision.
The answer I sent to him is above: We must ask Jesus if the command to turn the other cheek applies to us in any given situation.
I am of the opinion that Christian leaders and people as a general rule operate as they think God would have them act. When they make plans or carry them out they are assuming Christ is pleased and is with them.
But they do not actually know. They have not waited on Him long enough to receive specific guidance. They act out of duty, or fear, or spiritual ambition, or sympathy, or some other motive of the flesh. They often do not hear from Jesus. Yet He always is available and will respond to those who want to obey Him.
To not wait on Him until we know what He is wanting us to do is dead religion.