the funny thing about my life right now is this, most of my life i have spent dreaming of big opportunities and chances to work for and accomplish your dreams. most of my life as well has been marked by the fact that really amazing opportunities don't just fall into your lap. every once in a while something comes along and you think, "this is it, finally something good is happening," and then, of course, when it doesn't happen everyone (sometimes yourself included) says that it is just God's will. well i don't buy it. i would even go so far as to say that i cannot make myself believe it when good or bad things happen and we say "well that is God's will"
i have always found that understanding certain things about christ is easier when you look at it in comparison with real life relationships like parent/child, husband/wife, slave/master... and so on. so i was thinking today about this question of God's will in the context of the relationship between a parent and their child. now in a perfect parent/child relationship the parent would not really push any one single career persuit on their child. (just humor me for a second) i think of an unhealthy parent/child relationships where the dad was college quaterback and wants, more than anything, for his son to become a football player and all the son wants to do is play video games. imagine the father taking his son's video games and giving him a football and saying that the football is all he can play with. that sounds pretty disfunctional but i think that we sometimes let ourselves think that our relationship with Christ is on those terms. either that or it is just easier to deal with things when it is God's will and not really our responsibility.
in a healthy parent/child relationship the parent would not care so much about what the child does as long as the child makes wise decisions, stays in an honest relationship with their parents, and knows that they are loved. i think that our relationship with Christ looks a lot more like this one. i don't think God's will is as often as specific as we always like to think. now there are times when we, the children, might be getting oursleves into harm's way either through bad decisions or just plain ignorance. i am not going to say that in certain situations God doesn't intervene. to tell the truth, i really don't know. but i definately do know that it is ok to believe that somethings just happen... that is it, they just happen good or bad.
now keep in mind that i am just speaking on a pretty shallow plain. i am talking about things like getting in to a certain school, or getting a promotion, things like that.
anyways, i am starting to get tired and delerious. i am just saying that maybe God cares more that we honor and love Him than micro-managing our lives into a certain perfect little target that he wants us to reach. i think this applies to quite a lot of situations, most in fact. ok i need to go to bed i am falling asleep as i type ths.
5 comments:
all i can think about is how selfish we are. no offense, that isnt because of what you wrote, its just all i can think about.
amen people. 6 cents: it is hard to stay focused on our free will decisions when things start to look preplanned or predestined. as soon as i feel like i am on the right track and things are falling into place i want to completely let go of the reigns. i don't think that God wants us to let go of our responsibility to live. maybe He wants us to drive the vehicle and navigate through life, but He provides the fuel, the map, and the car itself. when we have a desire or a 'burden' then we present requests to Him and He provides what He provides. i guess we just do what we want to and sin not. it's a fine line in any case.
D-tock
josh, what do you mean then? i don't understand how this makes you think of selfishness. i remember you writting that before but i still don't understand what you are referring to. i am just trying to wrestle with some things that have really been heavy on my mind lately and i have no clue how that makes you think of selfishness.
What does the Bible say on this subject?
Well, firstly I wanted to say that the matter of God's will is actually disputed by many people. I think what one had said about being 'selfish' was actually right on the mark... I mean, not that we intend to be selfish, but we just are. Think about it. Whenever we inquire about God's will we are always asking 'what is God's will for my life?' When really we should be asking 'What is God's will?' and 'How can I join myself to His heart's desire on this earth?' I think this would make the Lord very happy to have some on this earth who would care for His interest over their own.
And I was also encouraged by the comment to seek out what the Bible has to say about God's Will. And in my study I have found that the Bible has a lot to say on God's Will. Infact it has a lot to do with two mysteries mentioned in the Bible. The first mystery being Christ, who is the mystery of God. And the second mystery being the Church, which is His Body; being the mystery of Christ.
God's will began in eternity past with His good pleasure. . . I'm going to mention a few verses that must be read when considering what is God's will.
Ephesians chapter 1, especially verses 5, 8-10, 22-23.
Let's read Ephesians 1:9-11 "making known to us the mystery of His will according to His good pleasure, which He purposed in Himself, that in the dispensation of the fullness of the times He might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in the heavens and which are on the earth-in Him. In Him also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestined according to the purpose of Him who works all things according to the counsel of His will."
According to the Greek text, His good pleasure can also be referred to as His economy (oikonmia-"household administration, household law, household dispensation" which is to parcel out, to dispense). For this purpose to be 'purposed in Himself' means that it was purposed in eternity, because our God is an eternal God. So, we can see from these verses that our God has something that makes Him happy; and this is called His good pleasure. So with this good pleasure He set His will to plan everything according to the working out of His good pleasure. And this will of His motivates Him to purpose in His heart to accomplish His good pleasure.
So what is it exactly that makes God happy, you might ask. It makes our Father happy to be expressed in His many Sons. How is this possible? God's Economy. And God's economy is simply this:
To dispense Himself in Christ into His chosen and redeemed people that He may have a house to express Himself, which house is the church, the Body of Christ.
We know from Gal. 1:15-16, ("But when it pleased God,... to reveal His Son in me,") that it pleases God to reveal His Son in us. So the Christ in you(Col. 1:27) really makes Him happy. And we know also in Colossians 1:19 that "it pleased the Father that in Him all the fullness should dwell." And in Ephesians 1:22-23 Paul says, "And He subjected all things under His feet and gave Him to be Head over all things to the church, Which is His body, the fullness of the One who fills all in all.Hmmm... This is becoming a very long comment. . . Perhaps I will contunue on this line if anyone else is interested.
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