In part 1 of this short study on God’s will we took a look at the importance of His Will for our life and how we go about starting to find it. This time, before we get into “discerning” His will, let’s take a few minutes and examine some of the key objectives He has established to help us sort out our priorities. And if His will is to become our will we need to understand what His priorities are.
First Things First
Mt 6:33-34 But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you. 34 Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.
If we are seeking His kingdom first, then by commandment we are not to worry about tomorrow. Worrying about tomorrow uses up the time we’ve been allotted for today, thereby causing us to miss His direction for the present. Worrying about tomorrow is a perfect definition of being out of God’s will. His will is that you be concerned only with the matters of today and leave tomorrow to Him because tomorrow isn’t here and the past is gone and you can’t change it.
Look at what God said to Solomon when He chose the Lord’s will over his own:
1Kings 3:11 And God said unto him, Because thou hast asked this thing, and hast not asked for thyself long life; neither hast asked riches for thyself, nor hast asked the life of thine enemies; but hast asked for thyself understanding to discern judgment;
Solomon had his priorities straight. He wanted to know what was important to God and therefore what was important in carrying out God’s will for his life. We see the impact of this in his words to his son in Prov 2:1-4 (New Living Translation):
My child, listen to what I say and treasure my commands. Tune your ears to wisdom,
and concentrate on understanding. Cry out for insight, and ask for understanding.
Search for them as you would for silver; seek them like hidden treasures.
If you would like and eye opener do a word study on “wisdom” and see what an important ingredient it is in God’s will. It always leads to putting Him first.
It’s clear throughout Matt 6 that one of the key objectives of God’s will for our lives is for Him to be the sole focus of who and what we are. He said it to the Israelites in the Ten Commandments; thou shalt not have any other gods before me (Ex 20:30). He said it to the church in the New Testament; and thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment (Matt 22:37; Mark 12:30; Luke 10:27). In the midst of following this commandment the cares and worries of today are taken care of by the one who cares the most. It is a simple case of first things first if you want to learn God’s will for your life.
Love
Mt 22:37-40 Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. 38 This is the first and great commandment. 39 And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. 40 On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.
Loving God is the most important thing we can do. In fact it is so important that Jesus even called it the first and great commandment. As we noted in the previous section, it must come first but Jesus adds to it by immediately stating that loving our neighbor (with as much love as we have for ourselves) is the second commandment. He shows us that love is so important to God that the entire Old Testament (the law and the prophets) depends on it. They literally hang on it since without love there is no “law and the prophets;” they become meaningless. They are like the first and last links in a chain; everything in between depends upon them. They link God to man, man to man and man to God.
Paul tells us in Rom 13:10 that love is the fulfilling of the law. What Moses wrote in the law and what all the prophets of the Old Testament said comes down to loving God and our fellowman. Mark and Luke tell us that when Jesus said this it had such a profound effect on the Herodians, Sadducees and Pharisees that nobody could even ask Him another question (Luke 20:40; Mark 12:34).
So right up there at the top of the list is love for our neighbor. I need to think about that more often when I am reflecting on how much I love the Lord. The love spoken of here is agape and is that love, which can only come through us by the Holy Spirit. We are not able to exhibit this kind of love on our own but by yielding to God’s will it will flow out naturally just like rivers of living water (John 7:38) through the one who dwells within: the fountain of that love; the Holy Spirit.
If it was important enough for Jesus to state that the Old Testament is held together by it then love is most certainly included in our list of the objectives of His will.
Teaching
Mt 28:19-20 Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: 20 Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen.
It is always His will that we teach the gospel everywhere and at all times. That is why we must always be instant in season, out of season, ready to reprove, rebuke and exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine (2Tim 4:2). The kind of teaching Jesus is talking about is the making of disciples. We are not to just deliver the message of salvation but to be active participants in the maturing process after the “new birth.”
God’s will for our lives most certainly involves using the lessons He has taught us as we walk with Him during our time here on earth. The most important witness we have to others involves two key objectives: (1) putting God first and (2) walking in love. Whether we know it or not, others judge us by where we have our priorities placed when the going gets tough. When we come under severe pressure our real walk with Him becomes clearly visible. It’s during these times that we are most often the most effective teachers; good or bad.
And don’t forget. Jesus would not have said, go therefore if He wasn’t going to be with us wherever “go” is. It is His strength in our times of weakness that aids us in teaching and discipling those around us. The all nations, for most of us, represents the place where we spend our day, be it at home, school or work. It is also the most likely place to find God’s will.
Holiness
1Pet 1:15-16 But as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation; 16 Because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy.
I like Vincent’s translation of the first part of this verse: after the pattern of the Holy One who called you. We find that pattern to be the holiness (purity, moral blamelessness or sacredness) that is to be tied to all of our personal conversation. However, conversation (anastrophe) does not just refer to talking; it also means behavior or mode of conduct. The literal translation is turning up and down and back and forth. In other words, we can’t just SPEAK holy because we are required to BEHAVE holy. Why? Because it is written that the one who called us is Holy.
Jesus’ holy character is the same character that we should be developing and seeing evidenced in our lives. He is our model and therefore our conduct should be representative of Him. Saint Augustine said: Let the acts of the offspring indicate likeness to the Father. If we are going to walk with Jesus as Enoch walked with God then we are going to have to adopt His likeness. It doesn’t happen overnight because it is a process that requires a lot of time spent looking at the example. What a wonderful objective of God’s perfect will: become like my Son; it’s a life long journey; here is my Holy Spirit to help you, teach you and provide all you need along the way.
Grow In Grace
2Pet 3:17-18 Ye therefore, beloved, seeing ye know these things before, beware lest ye also, being led away with the error of the wicked, fall from your own steadfastness. 18 But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and forever. Amen.
In this case being forewarned is forearmed. We need to be ever vigilant and watch that we don’t fall from our steadfast position in Christ. We need to be diligent and prayerful in our study of the Word so that we don’t succumb to the teachings of the “wicked.” This comes to us today in the form of false teachings that depart from the Word of God and from the influence of those in the world that are against Jesus.
On the other hand, Peter is telling us that it is God’s will that we grow (be enlarged) in grace. Grace represents His divine influence upon our heart, and its reflection in our lives. Remember the old definition of grace: God’s Riches At Christ’s Expense? One of the biggest evidences of that grace abiding in us is gratitude. If we grow in grace we will increase in the favor and image of God. Grace is a lot like a seed, when it is watered it grows and increases. When we continue to believe, obey and walk in love we are watering that seed and will grow in our knowledge of Jesus. Our whole Christian life is about growth and if we don’t continue to grow we will stagnate. If we don’t move past the grace of salvation we will remain in a sort of spiritual infancy and an infant that doesn’t grow every day becomes sick. The Lord has the objective of grace in His will for each of us so that we will grow and mature; from teknon (adopted sons and daughters) to huios (fully mature sons and daughters). That is what brings Him glory and honor.
Now, before we move on from grace take note that we are told in verse 18 to grow in grace AND knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Knowledge is something that we apply ourselves to so that we may attain it. We ask God for His wisdom in how to apply our knowledge but He expects us to put forth the effort to attain the knowledge. What good would the wise use of accounting principles be to someone who has not studied and gained the knowledge to be an accountant? Now, that doesn’t mean that God will not help us to attain that knowledge. That is one of the reasons He gave us His Holy Spirit. There is no better caveat to teach our children than to ask the Lord for help in learning. But He expects us to put forth the effort. Enough said?
There are other objectives contained in God’s will but seeking Him, loving Him, sharing His gospel, walking in holiness and growing in grace will give us a good place to start. By ensuring that these elements are a priority in our life we will have a head start in finding out where God is going and how we are to get there.
In Part III we will take a look at just how do we discern God’s will for us as we walk through this loud, noisy, confused and troubled world.
I am no more of a Christian than Pilate was . . . and yet, like Pilate, I greatly prefer Jesus of Nazareth to Amos or Caiaphas; and I am ready to admit that I see no way out of the world’s misery but the way that would have been found by his will. George Bernard Shaw