The Will of God

One of the biggest questions people have about living for God is about His will. It's understandable; knowing what God would have us to do is more important than anything else. Everything is governed by Him, and to be in step with what He is doing means we're where we're designed to be. This is something that just about everyone can agree on: if there's a God, knowing His will is absolutely crucial to having purpose.

So why is God so shy about revealing His will? Why doesn't God just show up visibly and write instructions in the sky for everyone to see? Then everyone would believe, and we'd all know exactly how to get to God's will from where we are, right?

Wrong. What we fail to realize is that God doesn't give us direct instructions because He has a much deeper, more effective way of revealing His will that glorifies Him more in the end and, consequently, brings greater good to everything. But what is that way? What's the secret?

Fortunately, this is a question Jesus directly answers for us in the Word. Really? People have been struggling with this question, even within the realm of Christianity, for the longest time, and the answer is sitting right in front of our faces in the Bible, answered directly? You bet. Our blindness to the answer proves to us something about ourselves that we could never figure out on our own -- but I'll get to that in a minute.

In John 6, Jesus, in a famous Bible story, perhaps the most famous of all other than the crucifixion, feeds a multitude of five thousand people. Like I said, everyone knows this part of the story, but what so many of us overlook is the passage after the story, where Jesus speaks to the people He has fed and who now are following Him after seeing the miracle.

I'll give some context to the passage first. In verse 25, the people find Jesus after looking for him for a while. He had withdrawn to be by himself for a while after feeding the multitude. It was during this period that the disciples -- without Jesus -- got on a boat and tried to cross the lake that they were close to, so that they could get to a town called Capernaum. During this voyage is when Jesus walks on water -- yet another famous Bible story. And because He joins the disciples in the boat after walking on the water, He ends up going with them to the other side of the lake. When the people find Jesus on the other side of the lake, they're a little surprised, since they knew that Jesus didn't leave in a boat with the disciples, and there were no other boats for Him to travel in. In verse 25, they ask Him when He got to this side of the lake.

What is Jesus' response? He gets straight to the point. As God, He knows their hearts and tells them this:

26 Jesus answered them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, you are seeking me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves. 27 Do not labor for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you. For on him God the Father has set his seal." (John 6:26-27, ESV)

What we can see from Jesus' response is the heart's reaction to miracles like the one Jesus had just performed. The proper response someone should have to a miracle like this would be to have a changed heart toward Jesus, and to follow Him out of love and faith in His goodness. Instead, the people recognize the opportunity as a way to comfort themselves through Jesus' authority over worldly things, and they seek Jesus' power to set their own lives in a more comfortable position. They want Jesus to make their lives better by making them more pleasurable and comfortable, but Jesus has something far superior in mind.

You see, despite common belief, no one could ever be truly converted to Christianity by witnessing a miracle. That's because miracles don't change hearts, and the heart is where beliefs originate. People in general are naturally selfish, and even on witnessing the supernatural, they aren't converted from this tendency. The human heart is cold and stubborn. Not even witnessing an impossible miracle was enough to convince the people of who Jesus is. Notice that in verse 30, the people ask for a miracle to prove He is who He says He is! What do they think He just did? It's ridiculous!

If you think about this enough, you know this to be true. Think about if God lit up the skies and commanded the world to worship Him. Do you think people would? Sure. But would they really worship Him the way He intended them to worship Him? Not at all. They'd be scared out of their minds, worshiping in a way to either try to save themselves from judgment by trying to get on God's good side, or trying to get close to God and get on His good side to satisfy their own sense of pride. Their hearts wouldn't be in it at all. No one loves a source of power the way that God desires to be loved.

Naturally, the people don't understand what Jesus is saying, so they ask Him how to get the everlasting food He's talking about. This is the question we've been dying to hear an answer for, and Jesus gives the complete answer.

28 Then they said to him, "What must we do, to be doing the works of God?" 29 Jesus answered them, "This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent." (John 6:28-29, ESV)

This doesn't seem like much of an answer, does it? To believe in Jesus? We all already knew this. Of course we're supposed to believe in Jesus! What we need to know is exactly what to do to do the works of God. The way we tend to ask this is "what does God want me to do with my life?" Who does He want us to marry? Which job should we take?

Notice, though, that in asking what specifically you need to do, aren't you doing exactly the same thing that the people did in our passage? Don't you see that you're just trying to find out the one thing you need to do to make sure you're "cool with God"? You need to know how to get to heaven. You need to know how to get God to make your life better. You need to know how to get God to make you stronger, more social, more likable, more powerful, more influential, or more successful. You need to know how to satisfy God so that you don't feel guilty anymore, so at last you can be free from your suffering. You need to know how to be good enough so that you can feel, deep down, that you are really a good person and satisfy your sense of pride and self-righteousness. You need to understand God so that you can satisfy your intellectual pursuits and curiosity by knowing the workings of everything. You need to know how God runs things so that you can follow in His will and be the glorious leader you've always dreamed of being. The list goes on and on. Where's God's glory in all of this? At best, it is at second place. Deep down, all we really want is for God to satisfy some self-focused desire about ourselves, and this is why we have so many questions about what God wants us to do.

Feeling a bit scared? You should be. These are big issues we're talking about here. Resentful of what has been said here? You're just proving the point. Ultimately, you care more about yourself than you do about God.

Keep in mind, when I say "we," I mean me, too. I can testify that I, on my own, am entirely, utterly, completely selfish. I seek my own glory for my pride's sake like nothing else. This is how I know that I need Christ to give me a heart of flesh rather than a heart of stone. And this giving of a new heart is exactly what Jesus is talking about in His response in verse 29. The only way that any of us can ever do what God would have us to do is by believing in the One He has sent. By faith in Jesus Christ, He gives us the the food that never spoils, that endures to eternal life. He gives us the bread of life, and He does so by giving us Himself by dying on the cross and killing the power of sin in our hearts so that we actually start to grow in holiness rather than spiral downward into sin and eternal death.

Note that God's way of doing things is much better than the way we would have it done. If it were up to us, God would just give us a direct set of instructions on where to go in our lives, and we would follow them to the point to be sure that we are in God's will. There would be no change of heart involved. Notice what He does instead. He gives us the basic principles we need to understand the basis of what He wants us to do, then lets us go do those things.

Think about it like this: imagine there are two actors. One actor is fantastic at acting out parts, as long as he is told exactly what to do. Another actor needs no such feeding, but instead really gets into the characters he plays and pretty much "becomes" the character. Which one is the better actor? Naturally, the second one. He has mastered acting. Similar principles are at play when it comes to God's will for us. God doesn't want us to merely follow a set of precise instructions. Rather, He seeks to impart the Holy Spirit into our lives so that we ourselves become more like Christ. Rather than just playing the part, He has us become the holiness that we desire, which in turn glorifies Him, and we share in His glory. This way, we don't need instructions. We have them internally through the Holy Spirit, by a change in our wants and desires. And besides, how would we expect to accomplish a list of tasks? We can't even do the little things He has asked of us already, like not sin, and that's a no-brainer.

This process of changing our hearts to follow His will is not easy by any means. God often uses suffering to bring this about. We seek the easy road because it's more comfortable, but God takes us down the hard road for our own good. God cares much more about changing our hearts than He does about what job we have, how much money we make, what people we know, or how comfortable we are. That's because the heart is the wellspring of our actions, and once the heart is right with God, everything else goes right with God, too. And as this is the best way to glorify God, this is the way God takes with our lives, hearts, and souls.

Think about this. The change of heart that faith in Christ brings about is the greatest miracle that Jesus could ever perform. The unchangeable laws of the universe are less constant than the stubbornness of the human heart, but changing hearts is exactly what God does for His children all the time. To change a human heart! How incredible! We so easily forget that this is the power of God manifested most openly. This is the work of God.

An important note: I'm not saying that just because you like God's blessings means you're not really a believer. This concept of selfish desires isn't meant to be some kind of litmus test to see how "saved" we are. Rather, it's another piece of evidence that shows just how corrupt we are at heart and how contrary we are to God's laws in our flesh. It's meant to convict us of the darkness of ourselves when Jesus' light isn't present in our hearts, and to remind us how much we need Him and to grow our love of Him that much more.

Father, it is awesome how You choose to show Your power by the changing of our hearts. Help us to hear Your will through the Spirit's presence in our hearts. Let us glorify You through everything, especially our deepest desires. Let our hearts worship You on even deeper levels than we are aware, Father, and protect us from our old hearts, which seek pointless self-glory and pleasure.

Let's get started...

So what are my favorite parts of life?

I'd say any time that lets me know that I'm here with a purpose, that shows me that I'm loved and that there's plenty of love to go around. Any time that I get closer to someone, or figure out something new, or meet someone new, or try something new -- those times are good, too. So are the times when I sit back and enjoy the old -- the past for what it was and what it has made me. I enjoy the things happening now, that are making for me a future that I can't even imagine.

I enjoy the process, the journey, the fullness that is life -- exploring it, attempting to understand it, and letting it shape me. I enjoy being inundated in something bigger and better than me. I enjoy watching everything fit right into One, just like He said it all would.

I enjoy life because I enjoy God, and God is life.

This blog is a tribute of praise to my Father who makes everything what it is and will be, and who promises that it's all totally worth it. Whatever He decides to show me, I'll put here. I'll be in His Word, and His Word will speak to me and through me in whatever way He decides to let it.

Needless to say, I'm pretty excited to see where this conversation goes. I'll open up with a prayer.

Lord, I can do nothing of worth without You. All goodness flows from You, and without Your blessing my words are nothing but noise. I don't want human wisdom; I want Your Word, here in me, living itself out as You see fit. I just want to know You better, because You're my Hero and Love and King. Let my blog bring You glory, and keep my pride in check. This is for You. It's not much compared to Your ultimate Sacrifice for me -- Your Son, Jesus Christ, taking my sin and washing me clean with His own blood -- but I'll give You what I can. Thank You for listening and blessing me with this opportunity to live for You.