Living in God's will. Part III

So far I have danced around the issue of knowing whether you 'in God's will' or not.  Firstly I have said we are all out of it to some degree ala the 10 commandments and other moral standards.  Secondly there is the consideration of specific will and how far it's detail extends.  Sufficed to say that whatever level you subscribe to, you will probably be aware that you are unable to perfectly live up to it.  So I have gotten away with being able to say that we are always out of God's will to some degree but that would be such a dualistic view.

Accepting that we aren't perfect and will never perfectly live as Christians does not excuse us from following Jesus to the degree we can, and it is this degree that I now want to make the focus of the question of living in God's will.  

First we should note that the possibility of our ever being perfect is totally ruled out by I John 1 so the issue is not perfection, the issue is where we are pointing - what pilots would call attitude, what yachties would call heading, what John Mitchell would call journey.  Boiling it all down to the moment - is what you are choosing taking a step toward Jesus or not?  Here is where it gets interesting because this is where people have different views on WWJD and therefore what we should do.  I will discuss some of the tools we have to judge whether we are stepping to Jesus or away and will also refer to views of what is holy and what is not.

How do you know if you are living in God's will? Part II

Last post we looked at God's general will and our example was the 10 commandments as well as the way Jesus developed it in the sermon on the mount.  Now we will look at what people most often mean when they talk about being in or out of God's will - his specific will.

The concept of God's specific will is the idea that God has something or things that he wants you to do.   It could be a task or a role.  God wanted Abram to sacrifice his son Isaac (or did he) which is an example of a task.  For a role you could look at Jesus - to be the sinless saviour or Paul to take the Gospel to the Gentiles.

Now, the range of what you could believe about specific will is huge - ranging from God has a task he wants you to do, to several tasks (like points on a map), to the exact path of your life all mapped out.

Personally I find it a little to navel-gazy to analyse each and every action I take all day wondering whether it is God's will! I ask myself, is it God's will that I live in constant anxiety and concern to be perfect? and the answer I get is no!  We have already established that none of us even keeps all the commandments let alone other descriptions of perfect behaviour so instead of wondering whether we have been perfect we can simply know we will not have been.

That doesn't mean there isn't room for reflection and soul-searching however most of life should consist of living and then we will have something to reflect on.

What I do believe is that God gives us a place in life where we can step up to serve him in a way that fits with our personality, strengths, weaknesses and accumulated experience. It is still our choice to do so, however whatever choice you make can be lasting.  You can choose to go on a roller coaster for instance, but cannot choose to get off halfway through.  This is a concept of freewill that I have not often heard talked about, but I think it is vital to understand that free choice does mean we are in total control it just means that we are responsible and we can start off and end processes in our life by our choices. 

How do you know if you are living in God's will? Part I

Your approach to this question will depend on where you are on the belief spectrum between God's detailed predestination of your life and his gift of free will to people.  I believe in completely free will but know that I am nowhere near good enough, smart enough or wise enough to live without offering my life and choices to God.  Furthermore, I can trust his judgement and desire to bless me more than I can trust my own judgement so I try to use my free will to be in the places and situations that God sees as best. 

In actual fact, to even have this question you must believe that you have free will, otherwise, what would it matter if you were in or out of God's will, you were predestined!

So what measure or measures do you you use to determine if you are in God's will?

Firstly, there are the obvious things like the 10 commandments

1. Have no other gods
2. Have no idols
3. Do not use the Lords name in vain
4. Remember the sabbath
5. Honour you father and your mother
6. Do not murder 
7. Do not commit adultery
8. Do not steal
9. Do not give false testimony
10. Do not covet

Now most honest people will realise that they do not keep all 10 all the time, however it gets even more drastic when you take into account what Jesus said in the sermon on the mount that even committing these acts in your heart is sin.  

1 John 1:8 says: If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and truth is not in us.  So at the first level we are always out of God's will, not just because we sin but because we aren't perfect... to be continued!

Good Quote

"The State is the great fictitious entity by which everyone tries to live at the expense of everyone else."

- Frederic Bastiat (1801 - 1850)

  19th Century French Economist

Spin

Spin is the euphemistic term we use to describe misuse of information.  It was previously known as misrepresenting the truth or bluntly, lying.  The trick of spin is it is a degree of lying mixed with a degree of truth.  It purports to be the whole truth though.

Politicians are well known to use spin as one of their tools, listed businesses also.  When it is used from one country to the next we call it propaganda.   But what do we call it when we use it as an individual?

Pride, boasting, egoism, denial, twisting the truth, fibbing, lying!

It is not merely putting your best foot forward, it is claiming that your foot is better than it really is, that you are more that you really are.    

How often are you willing to let people think you contributed more to a project than you really did? That success was due to you more than it really was? That your faults are smaller and your strengths greater than they really are?  If truth is your goal, then spin cannot be.

Do not judge and you will not be judged

Do you find it hard not to judge people?  I didn't think I did, that is until I started thinking about it.  I was right about some areas, I am not very judgemental, in fact I probably don't care enough about some things I see to have to struggle about whether I am judgemental or not.  But as I have thought about it in the last few weeks, I have seen that I am more judgemental than I first thought.  

For example, for a lot of things I am very non-judgemental, things like what people wear, believe and say.  Even if it's not my belief or taste, I am happy for people to have their freedom.

But there are 2 things I have noticed.  I think I am smokist and fatist.  I don't smoke and have never done so, nor have I ever   struggled with weight/body issues.  There is something about smoking and obesity that I just don't deal with very well.  Of course I know people in both camps (some in both) and I do not sit there actively hating them, however, I find myself being very unmerciful toward them.  "If I don't smoke why does anyone need to continue such a habit", "I can keep my weight under control, why can't everyone" etc...

No doubt I have many more judgemental 'ist's', and I think the basis of being judgemental toward others revolves around one thing... me!    Judging others, whether we admit it or not, is about seeing ourselves in a positive light and what better way to do that than to contrast other's imperfections with our perceived strengths, or at least to put them below ourselves.  

There are so many things wrong with judging others but here's just a few to think about:  

1. Judging others means we take our focus off the perfection of God.  - If we judged ourselves by God's standard, we would realise that his perfection is so far out of our reach that we would not even kid ourselves by comparing our 'goodness' to others weakness.
2. Judging others takes our focus on what God is requiring of us - We distract ourselves with the self gossip of judging others in our mind, keeping us from meditating on our own need to be conformed to Jesus.
3. Judging others sets us up in opposition to them.  Whilst we are judging, we are providing ourselves with reasons why we do not have to love and support and identify with others.

Jesus said "why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brothers eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye?...  ...you hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brothers eye" (Matt 7)

When you go to take the plank out of your own eye, you soon realise your own warped view.  Having compared yourself to God and started to rely on him for change you are then in a position to help others because you will be pointing them to God not your own virtue, and you will be in the same boat as them.

Ian Grant, who is a Christian communicator in New Zealand often describes himself in this way when talking of his relationship with God and encouraging others to go to God: "I'm just one beggar showing another beggar where to find bread"

I like that.  

So next time I find myself judging, I will remember my place and look to God to help me with my own plank first...

The measure you use

How we think about and treat others will affect us.

Check this out:

"Do not judge and you will not be judged. Do not condemn and you will not be condemned. Forgive and you will be forgiven. Give and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running, over will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use it will be measured to you."  - Luke 6:37-38

Have you ever noticed how stingy people never have enough money.  On the other hand, some people who are generous still seem to have an excess after all they give away.  Now some may say, it is easy for those with a lot to give something away - of course they still have plenty left - but me, I haven't got much. 

Someone once said, you cannot receive unless you have open your hands and this is one way I think of this verse.  If you are in the habit of giving, money and resources have a way of finding their way to you.  You will no doubt know people who exemplify this reality in their life.

This is not all about money though, don't judge or condemn and you won't be either, forgive and you will be forgiven.  These ones are potentially harder to quantify in a way that can be compared from life to life however the presence of judgementalism, grudgeholding and condemning people can certainly be detected as can those who are freeing, encouraging and generous spirits.

The big key about this passage though is that this isn't simply Karma ie. you do something good and the universe does something good for you, this is God.  When it comes down to it, whatever we do will be seen by God and it is him who ultimately oversees what we receive.  As the last half of the passage illustrates, what God gives to us always exceeds what we give.

If I was going to sum this passage up in just two words I would say - Be Generous - be generous in allowing people the benefit of the doubt, be generous in building people up, be generous in giving to people what you have... be generous!