Have you ever wondered what God's will is for your life? Let me say something that may surprise you: Discerning the will of God is not always easy, even if you happen to call yourself a pastor. Great now that I have got that off my chest we can reason together on this topic of knowing the will of God.
Working as a pastor and now as a Youth Director for the Adventist church in Sweden I meet a lot of people who like me want to follow God and do his will. You might think that just because I work as a pastor and have been given a position of responsibility – which by the way requires wisdom, understanding and a lot of humility – that somehow I get a message from God every morning to tell me what to do.
Truth is it does not work that way, at least in my Christian life. I would say that most of my Christian life is one of faith (trust), where I try to read the Bible everyday and pray for God to guide my life and give me wisdom. Then I make decisions and act on them, hoping that I am actually doing the will of God. I hope what I am saying does not disappointment you. Some of us somehow look for the quick-fix or secret ingredient that will solve all of our questions and problems.
A while back I read an interesting book that compared life to a train ride or a series of train rides. The author suggested that life is like a train ride. We get on. We ride. We get off. We get back on and ride some more. There are accidents and there are delays. At certain stops there are even surprises. All along the journey we meet people. Some stay longer and others are only with us for a short period. Some of these relationships will results in divine moments while others will result in great sorrows.
The beauty of this incredible journey is that God is with me every step of the way and ever so often I will find myself right in the middle of the will of God as I share my love for Christ with the world. In other words opportunities will come and go. Emotions will come and go. Some days you might even “feel” more spiritual and closer to God than others. Some days you might feel very encouraged, and other days you are discouraged. This is the nature of the journey. The best thing to do is just to remain faithful to God.
I understand now after 21 years of marriage why God uses the marriage analogy in the Bible to describe His relationship with us. Believe me you cannot expect to have an emotional high every day with your spouse where your heart flutters, your mouth goes dry, your mind goes blank and you literally break out into a cold sweat whenever your partner walks into the room. If I did this my wife Mary would probably think I was sick and call the doctor!
No, we have been married all these years and we have made a life-long commitment to each other. The same is true of our commitment to God. Those emotions and experiences and relationships we are exposed to in life come and go, and come again. The Christian life, according to the Bible, is one of faith not just feelings and experiences. Paul reminds us that “The just shall live by faith” (Romans 1:17).
So remain faithful to God today and everyday! Faithfulness is in fact part of the secret to discovering God's will for our lives.
Challenge:
What steps will you take to remain faithful to God?