I hope that you have been affirmed in how glorious God's will is for your life. You know what the best thing is, however? Follower of Christ, you actually have NO idea how glorious God's will is for your life! 1 Corinthians 2:9 says that, " 9 But, as it is written “What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love him” Our God is not a God who meets our expectations-He is a God who blows our expectations out of the water. If you could give a "customer satisfaction survey" to the people in heaven, I don't imagine that you would be getting too many people responding that their expectations had been "met." I think that even king David and Moses, two men who knew God better than perhaps anyone in history, would admit that even their experiences on earth did not prepare them for how glorious the reality of dwelling in the presence of God is. I think a great thing to pray for ourselves and one another is that we would have an eternal mindset. Pray that we would look towards eternity with the choices that we make and with our faith in God's plan for each of our lives.
So, to return to the original question of this blog, is asking what is God's will for your life biblical in the context that we normally ask it in? I would have to say, sadly, it is not. One of my goals is to never speak in absolutes where God has not, so DO NOT hear me saying that each and every time in your life that you seek God's will you are sinning. That's not the case. We have seen that God's will for your life is 1. for you to glorify Him 2. for you to be adopted by Him 3. for you to be filled with His Spirt 4. for you to be submissive 5. for you to suffer 6. for you to be grateful 7. for you to be transformed into the image of His Son. So what about decisions that don't necessarily fall into any of those categories (side note: the number of things that don't fall into one of those categories is probably MUCH smaller than we think)? If you were faced with a decision like whether or not to take a certain job or to date a certain person, what should you do? I would say do whatever it is that you want.
If you find yourself facing a tough decision, I would find someone who can speak truth into your life. I would have them over for dinner and have the two of you go over your life with a fine toothed comb. Ask yourself, and them, am I living for God's glory in ALL areas of my life? Ask yourself, and them, do you see evidence in my life that I am a true follower of Jesus Christ? Ask yourself, and them, do you see the fruits of the Spirit evident in my life? Ask yourself, and them, am I submitting to God and those He has placed in authority over me in all areas? Ask yourself, and them, am I suffering well for the sake of His Name? Ask yourself, and them, am I overflowing with gratitude and humility? Ask yourself, and them, am I being transformed into the image of the Son? If the answer is no in any one of these areas, pray for mercy and grace to fix that area. When you have THAT part of your life in line, return to the question at hand. If the answer is yes in all of these areas, do whatever it is that you want. How can you know that what you want is what God wants? Because, as David Platt likes to say, our God has this thing rigged (ha!)! Philippians 2:13 says this, " 13 for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure." Did you see that? God Himself is working in you to shape your desires to match His own desire for your life!
Even with all this knowledge, there are still going to be times when your heart is unsure of what to do. You may find yourself saying yes to all of those questions and STILL be unsure of what to do. Keep wrestling with God in prayer. Keep seeking HIM and NOT seeking a road map. He wants you to want Him, and He will be faithful to reveal himself to those who persevere. Finally, don't be afraid to fail. Personally, a lot of times when I ask "God what is your will for me?" what I'm really saying is "God, what should I do that will match my definition of success and keep me out of harm?" We don't ask who we should pursue in dating that would bring the most glory to God, we ask who we should pursue in dating that will not reject us or hurt us. We don't ask what job will cause us to rely on our Father the most and bring him glory, we ask what job we should take that will make us comfortable. Thank God that His definition of success is better than mine. Think about Paul. Think about the things he wanted to do (go to Spain, return to Corinth) that he was unable to do. Then think about all of the things that resulted from his "failures" (the book of Romans and 2 Corinthians). Paul never asked what was safe-he only wanted to make much of Jesus Christ. If we will make our minds up that that is what we want, then I think we will find that even our supposed failures will please our Father who is in Heaven.
Wednesday, May 15, 2013
What is God's will for my life, Part 3
I'd like to begin with a recap and a correction. So far, God's will for our lives has been pretty spectacular. We have seen that it is God's will for us to glorify Him, for us to be adopted as sons and daughters by him, for us to be Spirit-filled, and for us to be submissive. So far, so good. The correction is this: When I was listing the things that we are to be submissive to, I kind of left out the big one. God. We submit ourselves to God. We don't come to Him and ask Him to show us His will for our lives when we're not obeying what we already know that He wants us to do. Sorry for the oversight. Now, let's bring this bad boy home.
5. God's will for your life is for you to suffer.
Again, let us start with the words of Christ. John 15:18-21 says this: "18 “If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. 19 If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. 20 Remember the word that I said to you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they kept my word, they will also keep yours. 21 But all these things they will do to you on account of my name, because they do not know him who sent me." 1 Peter 3:17 has this to say about suffering, "For it is better to suffer for doing good, if that should be God's will, than for doing evil." One chapter later, Peter wrote this, "19 Therefore let those who suffer according to God's will entrust their souls to a faithful Creator while doing good." We could fill those blog and the whole blogosphere with accounts of God's people suffering. When Ananias is told to go and heal Paul, God tells Ananias that He is going to show Paul, "how much he is going to suffer for the sake of my name." Jesus asked people to take up their cross and follow him. Crosses were instruments of death and torture. Why is that God's will for you? It seems pretty harsh. If we agree that God is sovereign over all things, and if we agree that God loves us-why do we suffer? I'll be honest. I haven't really suffered in this life. I know people who have gone through immeasurable struggles and sorrows in this life, and I don't want to give some trite explanation. I want to give Biblical encouragement. Remember the first thing that we talked about. God's glory. He wants it. He will have it. As we go into this explanation, do me one favor: remember the cross. Hold onto it. Let's look at the words of Paul in 2 Corinthians. In chapter 6, Paul writes this, " but as servants of God we commend ourselves in every way: by great endurance, in afflictions, hardships, calamities, 5 beatings, imprisonments, riots, labors, sleepless nights, hunger; 6 by purity, knowledge, patience, kindness, the Holy Spirit, genuine love; 7 by truthful speech, and the power of God; with the weapons of righteousness for the right hand and for the left; 8 through honor and dishonor, through slander and praise. We are treated as impostors, and yet are true; 9 as unknown, and yet well known; as dying, and behold, we live; as punished, and yet not killed; 10 as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, yet possessing everything." There is certainly quite the litany of suffering listed there, but I want to draw your eyes to verse 10. Look at that beautiful paradox. "Sorrowful, yet always rejoicing." How is that possible? It is possible only through the cross. Paul can face all of the dangers and suffering that this world can throw at him because he knows that he has a savior who has died for him. Paul acknowledges that he has been hurt in this world, but Paul also knows that there will come a day when the suffering will be no more, and he will see his King. That is how he can rejoice. He can rejoice because of the cross. THAT is what the world needs to see. The world DOES NOT need to see Christians who are pretending to have it all together. The world does not need to see rich, fat, lazy Christians without a care in the world. They can get that from the world. The world needs to see people who acknowledge that they face pain and struggles in this world at the hands of their very own God. You know what else we get to acknowledge though? We get to acknowledge that that same God came to earth in the form of a man. That same God lived a sinless life. That same God died a sinner's death. That same God was buried in a grave. That same God rose again on the third day. That same God has promised that He is going to return one day and wipe away every tear and put an end to pain and sorrow. Same God. That's how Paul and every believer can be sorrowful and yet rejoice. And when we do that, when we show the world that all of the slings and arrows that they can throw at us can hurt us but cannot stop us from rejoicing, then our God is glorified immensely.
6. God's will for your life is for you to be grateful
1 Thessalonians 5:18 says this, "18 give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you." Well now. After submitting and suffering, it appears that we have come back to a part of God's will for us that we can all get behind. Grateful. That seems easy enough. But is it really? Being grateful in a biblical sense may be a bit more difficult than we imagine. "In all circumstances-"that's how we are to be grateful. So when you are submitting to your boss as he is a jerk-give thanks. When your kids are sick, your husband leaves you, you get cancer, or when any of the other seemingly immeasurable sorrows of this world afflict you, give thanks. You know what kills gratitude? Pride. You know what kills pride? Gratitude. Pride and gratitude cannot coexist because of the cross of Christ. If you are daily meditating on the cross of Christ and the miracle of redemption that was done there, you cannot help but feel gratitude of the deepest kind. When you see that you have been forgiven and restored to God by the merits of our Great High Priest, Jesus Christ, how can you be proud? On the flip side, when you are proud, how can you be grateful? When all you think about is you, you, YOU, how can you look at the cross? When your pride is running your life, you won't give thanks in all seasons. Good things will become things that you deserve, and bad things will become MISTAKES that God had better fix RIGHT NOW. So, if you would be grateful, put pride to death this very instant. Bow before the throne of grace and acknowledge who you are and repent of your pride. Be filled with the gratitude that comes from seeing who God is, who you are, and what was done on your behalf.
7. God's will for your life is for you to be transformed into the image of His Son.
Let me run that by you one more time: God's will for your life is for you to be transformed into the image of His Son. Let's look at 1 Thessalonians 4:3, which says, "3 For this is the will of God, your sanctification..." This is not only God's will for your life, but this a bedrock promise of our faith. God has put His name and His reputation on Him turning you into the very image of His most beloved thing: His Own Son. Let me show you how this incredible promise wraps up every "will" that has come before it. Philippians 2 paints one of the most incredible pictures of Christ. It says, " Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus,[a] 6 who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant,[b] being born in the likeness of men.8 And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death,even death on a cross. 9 Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, 10 so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father." Do you see the righteous, Spirit-filled, submissive, suffering, grateful life coming together in one giant, glorious, God-exalting package? Listen to the same story in Jesus own words from John chapter 12. Jesus was speaking of his death when He said, 27 “Now is my soul troubled. And what shall I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour’? But for this purpose I have come to this hour. 28 Father, glorify your name.” Then a voice came from heaven: “I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again.” Jesus knew what was coming his way, but He knew that beyond the cross lay the glory of His Father, and that was his ultimate prize. That is why all the praise of all peoples is due the Son of God, and THAT is who we are being transformed into the image of. Romans 8:28-29 says, "28 And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good,[h] for those who are called according to his purpose. 29 For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers." Did you see that? Our being transformed into the image of Christ is a done deal. God has said it. He will do it in a way that He gets all of the glory for doing it, but one day all followers of Christ will be transformed into the image of the Son of God.
I want to say that I feel where a lot of you are coming from when you ask "What is God's will for my life?" I have/am/will be right there with you. In some ways that question exposes something good about us-we desperately want to please our Father. Unfortunately, that very desire exposes something we have either never learned or have forgotten: The best way to please our Father is to desperately want HIM. There is nothing that we can do to make him love us more, and there is nothing we can do to make him love us less. We have to stop being desperate for God to show us what he wants us to do, and we have to start being desperate for God to show us HIM. He is what we want-not a treasure map that leads us to our mythical dream life. Be hungry and desperate for the Lord, and I think that we can trust him to guide us where he wants us to be.
5. God's will for your life is for you to suffer.
Again, let us start with the words of Christ. John 15:18-21 says this: "18 “If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. 19 If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. 20 Remember the word that I said to you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they kept my word, they will also keep yours. 21 But all these things they will do to you on account of my name, because they do not know him who sent me." 1 Peter 3:17 has this to say about suffering, "For it is better to suffer for doing good, if that should be God's will, than for doing evil." One chapter later, Peter wrote this, "19 Therefore let those who suffer according to God's will entrust their souls to a faithful Creator while doing good." We could fill those blog and the whole blogosphere with accounts of God's people suffering. When Ananias is told to go and heal Paul, God tells Ananias that He is going to show Paul, "how much he is going to suffer for the sake of my name." Jesus asked people to take up their cross and follow him. Crosses were instruments of death and torture. Why is that God's will for you? It seems pretty harsh. If we agree that God is sovereign over all things, and if we agree that God loves us-why do we suffer? I'll be honest. I haven't really suffered in this life. I know people who have gone through immeasurable struggles and sorrows in this life, and I don't want to give some trite explanation. I want to give Biblical encouragement. Remember the first thing that we talked about. God's glory. He wants it. He will have it. As we go into this explanation, do me one favor: remember the cross. Hold onto it. Let's look at the words of Paul in 2 Corinthians. In chapter 6, Paul writes this, " but as servants of God we commend ourselves in every way: by great endurance, in afflictions, hardships, calamities, 5 beatings, imprisonments, riots, labors, sleepless nights, hunger; 6 by purity, knowledge, patience, kindness, the Holy Spirit, genuine love; 7 by truthful speech, and the power of God; with the weapons of righteousness for the right hand and for the left; 8 through honor and dishonor, through slander and praise. We are treated as impostors, and yet are true; 9 as unknown, and yet well known; as dying, and behold, we live; as punished, and yet not killed; 10 as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, yet possessing everything." There is certainly quite the litany of suffering listed there, but I want to draw your eyes to verse 10. Look at that beautiful paradox. "Sorrowful, yet always rejoicing." How is that possible? It is possible only through the cross. Paul can face all of the dangers and suffering that this world can throw at him because he knows that he has a savior who has died for him. Paul acknowledges that he has been hurt in this world, but Paul also knows that there will come a day when the suffering will be no more, and he will see his King. That is how he can rejoice. He can rejoice because of the cross. THAT is what the world needs to see. The world DOES NOT need to see Christians who are pretending to have it all together. The world does not need to see rich, fat, lazy Christians without a care in the world. They can get that from the world. The world needs to see people who acknowledge that they face pain and struggles in this world at the hands of their very own God. You know what else we get to acknowledge though? We get to acknowledge that that same God came to earth in the form of a man. That same God lived a sinless life. That same God died a sinner's death. That same God was buried in a grave. That same God rose again on the third day. That same God has promised that He is going to return one day and wipe away every tear and put an end to pain and sorrow. Same God. That's how Paul and every believer can be sorrowful and yet rejoice. And when we do that, when we show the world that all of the slings and arrows that they can throw at us can hurt us but cannot stop us from rejoicing, then our God is glorified immensely.
6. God's will for your life is for you to be grateful
1 Thessalonians 5:18 says this, "18 give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you." Well now. After submitting and suffering, it appears that we have come back to a part of God's will for us that we can all get behind. Grateful. That seems easy enough. But is it really? Being grateful in a biblical sense may be a bit more difficult than we imagine. "In all circumstances-"that's how we are to be grateful. So when you are submitting to your boss as he is a jerk-give thanks. When your kids are sick, your husband leaves you, you get cancer, or when any of the other seemingly immeasurable sorrows of this world afflict you, give thanks. You know what kills gratitude? Pride. You know what kills pride? Gratitude. Pride and gratitude cannot coexist because of the cross of Christ. If you are daily meditating on the cross of Christ and the miracle of redemption that was done there, you cannot help but feel gratitude of the deepest kind. When you see that you have been forgiven and restored to God by the merits of our Great High Priest, Jesus Christ, how can you be proud? On the flip side, when you are proud, how can you be grateful? When all you think about is you, you, YOU, how can you look at the cross? When your pride is running your life, you won't give thanks in all seasons. Good things will become things that you deserve, and bad things will become MISTAKES that God had better fix RIGHT NOW. So, if you would be grateful, put pride to death this very instant. Bow before the throne of grace and acknowledge who you are and repent of your pride. Be filled with the gratitude that comes from seeing who God is, who you are, and what was done on your behalf.
7. God's will for your life is for you to be transformed into the image of His Son.
Let me run that by you one more time: God's will for your life is for you to be transformed into the image of His Son. Let's look at 1 Thessalonians 4:3, which says, "3 For this is the will of God, your sanctification..." This is not only God's will for your life, but this a bedrock promise of our faith. God has put His name and His reputation on Him turning you into the very image of His most beloved thing: His Own Son. Let me show you how this incredible promise wraps up every "will" that has come before it. Philippians 2 paints one of the most incredible pictures of Christ. It says, " Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus,[a] 6 who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant,[b] being born in the likeness of men.8 And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death,even death on a cross. 9 Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, 10 so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father." Do you see the righteous, Spirit-filled, submissive, suffering, grateful life coming together in one giant, glorious, God-exalting package? Listen to the same story in Jesus own words from John chapter 12. Jesus was speaking of his death when He said, 27 “Now is my soul troubled. And what shall I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour’? But for this purpose I have come to this hour. 28 Father, glorify your name.” Then a voice came from heaven: “I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again.” Jesus knew what was coming his way, but He knew that beyond the cross lay the glory of His Father, and that was his ultimate prize. That is why all the praise of all peoples is due the Son of God, and THAT is who we are being transformed into the image of. Romans 8:28-29 says, "28 And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good,[h] for those who are called according to his purpose. 29 For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers." Did you see that? Our being transformed into the image of Christ is a done deal. God has said it. He will do it in a way that He gets all of the glory for doing it, but one day all followers of Christ will be transformed into the image of the Son of God.
I want to say that I feel where a lot of you are coming from when you ask "What is God's will for my life?" I have/am/will be right there with you. In some ways that question exposes something good about us-we desperately want to please our Father. Unfortunately, that very desire exposes something we have either never learned or have forgotten: The best way to please our Father is to desperately want HIM. There is nothing that we can do to make him love us more, and there is nothing we can do to make him love us less. We have to stop being desperate for God to show us what he wants us to do, and we have to start being desperate for God to show us HIM. He is what we want-not a treasure map that leads us to our mythical dream life. Be hungry and desperate for the Lord, and I think that we can trust him to guide us where he wants us to be.
What is God's will for my life, Part 2
I wanted to get this post done by Sunday, and, lo and behold, here it is Friday. I'm also going to stretch this into three parts, because this would be a 20,000 word post otherwise haha. Part three will, hopefully, be tomorrow. So, the original question that we set out to answer in Part 1 was whether or not the phrase, "What is God's will for my life?" is a biblical question. Biblical, as we defined it, was any principle that is grounded in Scripture even if it is not necessarily stated verbatim (i.e., "Trinity"). Well, after reading 286 verses, I can tell you that there is good news and there is bad news. The bad news? With regards to the phrase "What is God's will for my life?" I will quote the great Inigo Montoya, "That word....I do not think it means what you think it means." The good news? God does have a specific will for your life and it is more incredible and liberating than you or I could imagine. Let's look together at what God's Word says about His will for your life.
1. God's will for you is that you glorify Him.
When it comes to God's glory, there are few better places to turn than the book of Isaiah. Let's highlight just a few verses. Isaiah 6:3 says "Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord of Hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory." Isaiah 49:3 says, "And He said to me, you are my servant, Israel, in whom I will be glorified." Isaiah 43:7 says, "everyone who is called by My Name, whom I created for my Glory, whom I formed and made." And, last but not least, Isaiah 42:8 says, "I am the Lord; that is My Name; my glory I give to no other, nor my praise to carved idols." Glory. Specifically, God's own glory, is what He is all about. Now, there may be some of you who are reading this who are thinking, "That's all well and good, Andy. But you are a Christian, and I am not. Does that mean God made me for HIS glory?" I'm glad you asked. The answer is emphatically yes. Exodus chapter 14 finds the people of Israel, recently freed from slavery, being pursued by the Egyptian army. The people of Israel are terrified, and Moses goes before the Lord. The Lord tells Moses, "...I will harden the hearts of the Egyptians so that they will go in after them, and I will get glory over Pharaoh and all of his host, his chariots, and his horsemen. And the Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord when I have gotten glory over Pharaoh, his chariots, and his horsemen." In other words, you can pass through the Red Sea and OFFER glory to God, or you can be buried under the Red Sea and BRING glory to God. Either way, every human being gives glory to God. So, believer and non-believer alike, God's will for your life is to bring Himself glory through you.
2. God's will for your life is for you to be saved.
Now, we are treading in some deep theological waters here when we are talking about God's will for everyone to be saved. Let's keep it simple and say that the offer is open for all men and women to come to God through the blood of Jesus Christ. Tragically, all men and women will not. But for those who will humble themselves and cry out to God (for it is by grace through faith that you have been saved), salvation is assured. The book of Ephesians opens with some of the most stirring verses in all of scripture. Here is Ephesians 1:3-12:
1. God's will for you is that you glorify Him.
When it comes to God's glory, there are few better places to turn than the book of Isaiah. Let's highlight just a few verses. Isaiah 6:3 says "Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord of Hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory." Isaiah 49:3 says, "And He said to me, you are my servant, Israel, in whom I will be glorified." Isaiah 43:7 says, "everyone who is called by My Name, whom I created for my Glory, whom I formed and made." And, last but not least, Isaiah 42:8 says, "I am the Lord; that is My Name; my glory I give to no other, nor my praise to carved idols." Glory. Specifically, God's own glory, is what He is all about. Now, there may be some of you who are reading this who are thinking, "That's all well and good, Andy. But you are a Christian, and I am not. Does that mean God made me for HIS glory?" I'm glad you asked. The answer is emphatically yes. Exodus chapter 14 finds the people of Israel, recently freed from slavery, being pursued by the Egyptian army. The people of Israel are terrified, and Moses goes before the Lord. The Lord tells Moses, "...I will harden the hearts of the Egyptians so that they will go in after them, and I will get glory over Pharaoh and all of his host, his chariots, and his horsemen. And the Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord when I have gotten glory over Pharaoh, his chariots, and his horsemen." In other words, you can pass through the Red Sea and OFFER glory to God, or you can be buried under the Red Sea and BRING glory to God. Either way, every human being gives glory to God. So, believer and non-believer alike, God's will for your life is to bring Himself glory through you.
2. God's will for your life is for you to be saved.
Now, we are treading in some deep theological waters here when we are talking about God's will for everyone to be saved. Let's keep it simple and say that the offer is open for all men and women to come to God through the blood of Jesus Christ. Tragically, all men and women will not. But for those who will humble themselves and cry out to God (for it is by grace through faith that you have been saved), salvation is assured. The book of Ephesians opens with some of the most stirring verses in all of scripture. Here is Ephesians 1:3-12:
3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, 4 even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love 5 he predestined us[b] for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, 6 to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved. 7 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, 8 which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight 9 making known[c] to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ 10 as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.
11 In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will, 12 so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory
If you are a follower of Christ, let those words sink in for just a moment. God chose YOU. Sinful, rebellious, dirty, hateful, awful YOU. He looked at your life countless ages before it even began and said, "I want him to be my son. I want her to be my daughter." That was his will for your life. I mean, let's think about we have learned so far. God's will for your life is to bring Him glory and for you to call him Father. Are you full of joy and gratitude? And do you maybe see why complaining about why you aren't sure where you should spend the next two or three years of your life sounds kind of...silly? I think that as believers we kind of skip over how incredible our salvation is and say, "Thanks for the get out of @#!*% free card, God, but what about college? Should I date this girl or not?" Don't hear me saying that those aren't important decisions (and we WILL get there; I promise), but rather focus on the fact that these are decisions that will impact you for 50 years, tops. The decision that God made to choose you will impact you for 50 billion of billions of years.
3. God's will for your life is to be filled with the Spirit.
I arranged these items in this order for a reason. Whether or not you are a believer, God will be glorified in you. That is why it was number one. The second one was number two because the OFFER of salvation is open to any and all. So, if you are not a believer, call out to God NOW and become one. The rest of these "wills" apply only to followers of Christ. Ephesians 5:18 says " 18 And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit." Now, that is a command to all believers, so let's just assume that that is God's will for your life. Ok. Be filled with the Spirit. What does that mean? As is always the case, the words of Jesus are a good place to start. In the book of John, chapter 14, Jesus says this about the Holy Spirit, 15 “If you love me, you will keep my commandments. 16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper,[f] to be with you forever, 17 even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be[g] in you." Jesus goes on to say that,"the Helper, the Holy Spirit,whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you." The Holy Spirit dwells in every Christian, and He makes himself known in a big way. Galatians 5 describes the attitudes and actions of a spirit-filled Christian in this way, "22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law." Not only that, as if that wasn't enough, the Holy Spirit allows us to grow in wisdom. It is this kind of wisdom that will allow us to make the decisions that so trouble our hearts. 1 Corinthians 2 says, "7 But we impart a secret and hidden wisdom of God, which God decreed before the ages for our glory," and "12 Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might understand the things freely given us by God. 13 And we impart this in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit,interpreting spiritual truths to those who are spiritual." So, let's recap what we've learned. God wants to glorify Himself in you, He wants to adopt you so that you be in His presence forever, and He wants to send the Holy Spirit to fill you with joy, truth, peace, and love. God's will for my life is pretty awesome.
4. God's will for your life is for you to be submissive.
Huh? God's will for my life is for me to be submissive? Submissive to who? Well...everyone, actually. 1 Peter 2:13-17 says, "13 Be subject for the Lord's sake to every human institution,[b] whether it be to the emperor[c] as supreme, 14 or to governors as sent by him to punish those who do evil and to praise those who do good. 15 For this is the will of God, that by doing good you should put to silence the ignorance of foolish people. 16 Live as people who are free, not using your freedom as a cover-up for evil, but living as servants[d] of God. 17 Honor everyone. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the emperor." As 21st century American Christians, we don't like the sound of this one as much. The whole "chosen by God as his sons and filled with His Spirit" thing sounds appealing, but we aren't so sure about this part of it. It is important, however, to see the WHY behind the submissive. Christians are not to be submissive because they are weak, fearful, timid people. Christians are to live submissively because they care more about the glory of God than they do about their own pride. So, we live in a country where the government grows increasingly hostile to us, we live in a culture that is more and more opposed to God's word, and we work for bosses who don't treat us right. We let others go ahead of us, lie to us, cheat us and abuse us because we want the name of God to be praised. Honestly, I struggle so deeply with this one. I don't like being treated poorly. I have to kill my pride. We have to kill our pride and submit to those around us for the glory of God. After, this is God's will for us.
What is God's will for my life?
A TWO PART BLOG POST, YA'LL.
A few years ago, David Platt (my pastor at the Church of Brook Hills) raised a few eyebrows by making this statement on the sinners prayer. He said, "Should it not concern us that there is no such superstitious prayer in the New Testament? Should it not concern us that the Bible never uses the phrase 'ask Jesus into your heart?' or 'invite Christ into your life?'" I am not hear to rehash the whole debate, but I did want to draw attention to what, I think, was the crux of the argument that David was making. Is it biblical? Are these phrases that we use biblical? Now, when I say, "biblical," I don't mean "is it literally in the Bible itself." If that was my standard, then I would have to toss out the word Trinity and all of the glory that goes with it, and I'm not ready to do that. No, when I say, "biblical," I mean is it a principle firmly grounded in the Word of God. If it is, let us live by it and die for it. If it is not, then let us toss it out in the trash where it belongs.
That brings me to a phrase that is currently popular in Christian circles: "What is God's will for my life?" Other permutations of this phrase include things like "I'm just trying to find God's will for my life," and "I'm not sure if this is God's will for me." Are these phrases biblical? Now, on the surface of it, this seems like an easy question. Jeremiah 29:11 says, "For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope." Psalms 139:16 says "Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there were none of them." So, let's just affirm from the beginning that the Sovereign God of the universe has a specific plan for each and every one of his creations. That means a plan for you and a plan for me. It also follows that God, having formed a plan for us, wants us to KNOW that plan. God is a planner. God laid out the universe with a degree of accuracy that is beyond the ability of the human mind to comprehend. I just saw an ant crawl across my window. That ant has a better chance of understanding all of human history by his journey across my window than I do of understanding God by what I can see in my journey in this world. God is Holy. He is other. His ways are not my ways. God had a plan for creation, and, gloriously, God had a plan for redemption. Acts 2:23 talks about God's "deliberate PLAN and FOREKNOWLEDGE." Galatians 4:4 talks about how God sent Jesus when the fullness of time had come. Now God, being the best planner, doesn't just leave us fumbling in the dark for the light switch. He shines light into our eyes (2 Cor. 4:6) SO THAT we can know His plan. A plan is not much of a plan if no one involved in it knows how to do it.
So, we have affirmed that God a.) has a plan for each and every one of us and b.) wants us to know that plan and what part we play in it. This all seems well and good. But wait. If a and b are true (and scripture affirms that they are), then why are there so many who don't seem to know God's will for their lives? When actual Bible-believing, Christ-following children of God seem to be unable to make a decision regarding their lives, what are they expressing? Where is the communication break-down occurring and why? Is the phrase, "What is God's will for my life?" biblical in the context that we often use it today? That is what I want to explore in the rest of this post. My strategy was simple: Go to the Word. I used a Greek lexicon and looked up all the instances where the Greek word for "desires" and "willing" appeared (37 times), all instances where the Greek word for "what one wishes or determines shall be done" (54 times). I also looked up every time in the English translation where the phrases "God's will" (5 times), "will of God" (17 times), "plan" (76 times), "intend" (23 times), and "purpose" (74 times) appeared. All together, that gave me a pool of 286 verses to read and study. Lord willing, I will post the second part of this monstrosity on Sunday. Thanks!
A few years ago, David Platt (my pastor at the Church of Brook Hills) raised a few eyebrows by making this statement on the sinners prayer. He said, "Should it not concern us that there is no such superstitious prayer in the New Testament? Should it not concern us that the Bible never uses the phrase 'ask Jesus into your heart?' or 'invite Christ into your life?'" I am not hear to rehash the whole debate, but I did want to draw attention to what, I think, was the crux of the argument that David was making. Is it biblical? Are these phrases that we use biblical? Now, when I say, "biblical," I don't mean "is it literally in the Bible itself." If that was my standard, then I would have to toss out the word Trinity and all of the glory that goes with it, and I'm not ready to do that. No, when I say, "biblical," I mean is it a principle firmly grounded in the Word of God. If it is, let us live by it and die for it. If it is not, then let us toss it out in the trash where it belongs.
That brings me to a phrase that is currently popular in Christian circles: "What is God's will for my life?" Other permutations of this phrase include things like "I'm just trying to find God's will for my life," and "I'm not sure if this is God's will for me." Are these phrases biblical? Now, on the surface of it, this seems like an easy question. Jeremiah 29:11 says, "For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope." Psalms 139:16 says "Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there were none of them." So, let's just affirm from the beginning that the Sovereign God of the universe has a specific plan for each and every one of his creations. That means a plan for you and a plan for me. It also follows that God, having formed a plan for us, wants us to KNOW that plan. God is a planner. God laid out the universe with a degree of accuracy that is beyond the ability of the human mind to comprehend. I just saw an ant crawl across my window. That ant has a better chance of understanding all of human history by his journey across my window than I do of understanding God by what I can see in my journey in this world. God is Holy. He is other. His ways are not my ways. God had a plan for creation, and, gloriously, God had a plan for redemption. Acts 2:23 talks about God's "deliberate PLAN and FOREKNOWLEDGE." Galatians 4:4 talks about how God sent Jesus when the fullness of time had come. Now God, being the best planner, doesn't just leave us fumbling in the dark for the light switch. He shines light into our eyes (2 Cor. 4:6) SO THAT we can know His plan. A plan is not much of a plan if no one involved in it knows how to do it.
So, we have affirmed that God a.) has a plan for each and every one of us and b.) wants us to know that plan and what part we play in it. This all seems well and good. But wait. If a and b are true (and scripture affirms that they are), then why are there so many who don't seem to know God's will for their lives? When actual Bible-believing, Christ-following children of God seem to be unable to make a decision regarding their lives, what are they expressing? Where is the communication break-down occurring and why? Is the phrase, "What is God's will for my life?" biblical in the context that we often use it today? That is what I want to explore in the rest of this post. My strategy was simple: Go to the Word. I used a Greek lexicon and looked up all the instances where the Greek word for "desires" and "willing" appeared (37 times), all instances where the Greek word for "what one wishes or determines shall be done" (54 times). I also looked up every time in the English translation where the phrases "God's will" (5 times), "will of God" (17 times), "plan" (76 times), "intend" (23 times), and "purpose" (74 times) appeared. All together, that gave me a pool of 286 verses to read and study. Lord willing, I will post the second part of this monstrosity on Sunday. Thanks!
First off, a word of explanation. Actually, lots of words of explanation, because if there is one thing I like more than the sound of my own voice, it's the....sound....of my written words. You need to know that. The title of this blog, Separate Checks, does NOT come from my job (I'm a waiter at Bottega Cafe), but rather from the "season" of life that I and my friends find myself in. There's no hiding it-we're single. On Friday night, we went out for a friend's birthday. 12 people (5 ladies, 6 gentleman, and one guy from Georgia) sat around the table. A nice looking bunch, if I do say so myself. The waitress approached and asked in that awesomely hopeful voice all of us servers use when approaching a large party, "Will this all be on one check?" No, we replied. It would not be. It would be on 12 SEPARATE CHECKS. The blog, and the eventual book and movie title, was born! So, for those of you who don't know, I'm 28, live in Birmingham, I'm a waiter, and I'm single. That seems to be the four questions that everyone wants to know about everyone that they meet, so I figure I'll let you know all of it up front. Fortunately, that does not define me. I happen to be all of those things right NOW, but I will ALWAYS be a follower of Jesus Christ. I'm writing this blog because it just seems like there is NO ONE writing about dating and singleness from a Christian perspective right now! Actually, I'm writing this blog because I said I would start a blog, and, even though I was kidding, I think it's a good idea to always do the things that you said you would do. If nothing else, it will teach you to keep your mouth shut. In all seriousness, I guess I just want to write about where I am right now, what I am thinking about, and what I am going through. Maybe I will encourage some folks; maybe I will provide a few laughs, but I hope that, above all, I show everyone of you how great my God is. He has, is, and always will provide everything I need in this life. If I can show you Him, then this blog is a success.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)