No 8

(God’s will for our lives)

Wouldn’t it be great if we could pray to God to find out if He approves of us marrying a certain person or taking on a new job or better yet, getting involved in His work on a full-time basis and have the response right away? Or if we could send God an e-mail message and He would answer us back giving us exactly what He expects of us. Actually, He has already given us exactly what He expects of us and He has placed these expectations in the Bible. Well, now you say hold on Dave, the Bible does not give us this specific information for our lives. You’ re right, it doesn’t. However, I have come to realise over the years that if we are obedient in the revealed will of God for our lives, the unrevealed will of God for our lives will become crystal clear. You say what??? Just this – the Bible says in Matthew 22 : 37-40 that : “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind……thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself…..on these two commandments hang all the law”. In these three short verses, Jesus has given us everything we need to know about God’ s revealed will for our lives. Now here comes the tough part : putting these verses into practice. This is easier said than done, right? God has set a standard for us and wants what is best for His children. He blesses, unequivocally, any effort on our part to conform to this standard. So, if we are faithful in doing our part, He will be faithful in doing His part. This doesn’t mean that we just sit down and do nothing; we must be actively involved in life; we must trust Our Lord in everything and we must make an effort to improve ourselves in all areas of our lives. Jesus often used parables to explain important truths and an example of this is where He told the story of a landowner who goes away for a while and gives responsibilities to three of his servants (Matthew 25 :14 to 30). In this one parable alone, Jesus taught us stewardship, diligence, spiritual growth, accountability, fidelity, and humble service; not to mention obedience. Our God is awesome and He is faithful. Try Him out and see!