What Is The Will Of God?
March 26, 2008 – 9:19 pmSome thoughts on Biblical thinking, decision making, and priority setting:
1. “For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.” – Philippians 1:21
As I’m writing this, I happen to be listening to the song “Center” by Charlie Hall. Here’s the chorus:
Oh, Christ be the center of our lives
Be the place we fix our eyes
Be the center of our lives
A Christians, we need to be Christ-centered, Cross-centered, and Gospel-centered in our thinking, in our feeling, and in our acting. When Christ is the center of our lives, everything revolves around Him. Everything is done in light of Him. As Paul says in 1 Corinthians 6:19-20, “You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.”
So often we like to think that we are our own – we are accountable only to ourselves and we can do anything we want. That there is no reality outside ourselves. Even more often, we intellectually acknowledge that “we are not our own”, but we still don’t “glorify God in our bodies.”
Why? Peter diagnoses it perfectly in 1 Peter 2:9 – “For whoever lacks these qualities is so nearsighted that he is blind, having forgotten that he was cleansed from his former sins.” We’ve forgotten the Gospel. We don’t live in light of what Christ has done.
Christ, and the Gospel, are no longer at the center.
And so we can no longer honestly declare, “For me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.” Because to live isn’t Christ, and dying sucks because all the things we think life is can’t come with us when we die.
But as “to live is Christ” becomes more of a reality, we can think and make decisions in light of the fact that dying is gain. How radically transformative is that? We decide to do things – get a job, get married, get a new house, etc. – knowing that they are only temporary, they aren’t the biggest deal, and that Jesus and life with Jesus forever is so much greater.
2. “For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven.” – Ecclesiastes 3:1
An observation: we need to be discerning of seasons. That is, sometimes it is the right time to do something and we don’t realize it and so we don’t do it. And equally often, it is the wrong time to do something, and we don’t realize it, and we do it anyway.
Just because something is good in general doesn’t mean it is right for you RIGHT NOW.
An obvious example: college is good. If you’re 5 years old, though, you probably shouldn’t be in college.
Marriage is good (for most – some are called to singleness, but most aren’t). But right now might not be the right time. Moving to an unreached people group to tell them about Jesus is good. But right now might not be the right time.
3. “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.” – Romans 12:2
What this verse is saying:
- The “will of God” is “what is good and acceptable and perfect.” We should want to know these things.
- It is possible to discern the will of God.
- Discerning is done by us
- We are evil and need to be changed before we can properly discern what God’s will is
- WE (our whole selves) are transformed as our minds are transformed
- Our minds are transformed through scripture (2 Tim 3:16 – scripture is useful for training in righteousness)
Bottom line – there is a will of God, it is revealed to us through scripture, and we should try to know it and follow it.
4. “Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart.” – Psalm 37:4
This verse is important as you look at this question from a Christian Hedonistic perspective. As you delight in God – as He becomes your joy and your treasure – then He will give you new desires, in line with what will increase your joy in Him. As Christ becomes your treasure, you will long for more and more of Him.
Similarly, if you are not delighting in God, you should be skeptical of your desires. Your mind may deceive you as you know what categories of things are “good”, but you don’t know which one is “right”, and so human desires – for comfort, security, status, approval, etc. – take over and your heart desires for you to be made much of instead of Jesus.
5. “So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.” – 1 Corinthians 10:31
All of life is worship. That is, we are always worshiping (making much of) something. It may be God, it may be something else. Our job as Christians is to repent of sin (worshiping things other than God) and worship God. Everything we do should be done to make God – not that which we are doing – look great.
This is one of the most important questions we need to ask as Christians, and I fear we think about it far too little – “How do I do ______ to the glory of God.” How do I walk to class to the glory of God? How do I do homework to the glory of God? How do I go shopping for food to the glory of God?
As Christians we know we’re supposed to avoid “sin”. Too often we try to do that by asking questions like, “How far is too far?” or “This isn’t bad, is it?”. Those questions betray us, as they reveal a self-centered heart that wants to assuage its guilt, not glorify God. Glorifying God should be the primary question, motive, and desire of our hearts and lives.
“For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen.” – Romans 11:36
-Ben
