There’s a funny scene in Monty Python’s Holy Grail when King Arthur meets God. First he and his men throw themselves to the ground to which God says “Stop groveling and stand up!”. Arthur says “sorry” to which God says, “And don’t say ‘I’m sorry’. Every time I meet someone it’s sorry this and forgive me that and ‘I’m not worthy’!”. Then God says, “What are you doing now?” to which Arthur replies, “I’m averting my eyes oh Lord”. God says, “Well knock it off! It’s like those miserable sobs—so depressing!”
This is just a silly scene from a silly movie, but what if this is sort of how God feels when we continue to grovel and wallow around saying how sinful and unworthy we are all the time even years after becoming Christians?
What I’m talking about moving beyond gratitude for the forgiveness of your sins to greater things God has in store for you. I’m certainly not saying to stop being grateful for it—I’m saying that once someone is secure in their relationship with God, they can spend their spiritual energy on things beyond this—and that God is fine with this and wants you to do it. Remember God says, “fear is the beginning of wisdom” (Psalm 111:10, Prov 1:7 and 9:10) and “perfect love drives out fear” (James 4:18).
Some may be thinking, “I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Good, that means you have moved on and that’s great! However, I’ve met and know many folks who have a hard time moving on from this. If you have matured already, keep reading because there’s more to this article than this.
What is beyond this and what does God want me to do? That’s a great question that many Christians ask directly and indirectly. The answer comes in different forms but the term “God’s will” is a common denominator. People are searching for God’s will for their life—at great crossroads which affect the grand scheme of their life all the way down to minuscule day-to-day events. Many feel like with every decision they make, there is a right one and wrong one. Choosing the right one (i.e. God’s will) leads to good things, while choosing the wrong path (and therefore going against God’s will) leads to pain and suffering.
I would suspect most people believe there is a third category of “menial choices” where there isn’t a bad or good choice but simply personal preference. I’ve known folks though that think even the tiniest decisions and results reveal God’s will and whether you’re following it or not. I remember one gal felt if she got a lot of red lights on her way somewhere, God was telling he wanted her to go a different way.
Perhaps for all Christians, the term “God’s will” points to a present or future decision that one must make. But when you think of a normal person’s Will, this isn’t the case. A person’s Will is a legal document that specifies their last wishes, like how their property is to be divided up among their relationships (for the sake of clarity, I’ll use capitalized “Will” to refer to this).
Is there a part of God’s will that is like a traditional Will? Is there something that describes what he has already given to us? If you’re familiar with the Gospel and the book of Hebrews, then perhaps what I’m getting at is already coming to mind. The book of Hebrews describes in detail God’s Will. Read Heb 9:16-17:
In the case of a will, it is necessary to prove the death of the one who made it, because a will is in force only when somebody has died; it never takes effect while the one who made it is living.
Someone has to die in order for a Will to be activated, but God can’t die, right? Well the spiritual part of God can’t die, but God incarnate in the body of Jesus can and did, and it was at Jesus’ death that this part of God’s Will began. This Will was given in the Old Testament in several places like Jer 31:31-34 (note this is quoted twice in the book of Hebrews in chapters 8 and 10):
“The time is coming,” declares the Lord,
“when I will make a new covenant
with the house of Israel
and with the house of Judah.
It will not be like the covenant
I made with their forefathers
when I took them by the hand
to lead them out of Egypt,
because they broke my covenant,
though I was a husband to them,’”
declares the Lord.
“This is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel
after that time,” declares the Lord.
“I will put my law in their minds
and write it on their hearts.
I will be their God,
and they will be my people.
No longer will a man teach his neighbor,
or a man his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’
because they will all know me,
from the least of them to the greatest,”
declares the Lord.
“For I will forgive their wickedness
and will remember their sins no more.”
Therefore Jesus’ last Will and Testament, so to speak, is the New Covenant (NC). As the with the Old Covenant (OC), it comes with its own commitments, promises, and punishments for both parties (God and mankind). In the OC, with its many laws and punishments, some may have missed what the promises are. Indeed there are promises, which are summarized in Deut 28. From an individual perspective, if one is able to follow all of the laws, then God promises to bless physical their life; conversely, if one does not follow all of the laws, then God promises to curse them. From a national perspective, if the nation of Israel follows all of the laws, then the nation will be blessed physically, otherwise it will be cursed. I use the term “physical” because the blessings all have to do with the fleshly aspects of life—nowhere in the OC are any spiritual blessings promised. There are future/prophetic spiritual promises for Israel, but they all had to do with the coming Messiah and were not for the people before Christ. This is why Heb 11:13 says of those living before Christ: All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance.
Let that sink in for a moment…There were no spiritual blessings for obedience to the Law! Isn’t that crazy?
In direct opposition to this, the NC is entirely based on spiritual blessings. Some may disagree with this and think that there are physical blessings promised, but I challenge you to find any that are listed in the Covenant.
There of course are many comparisons between the OC and NC that can be made, but one huge difference is you get all the blessings from the moment you become a Christian—versus having to continue to obey all the commands in order to receive continued physical blessings under the OC. Take for instance 2Pet 1:3: His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. And Eph 1:3: Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. (Emphasis added in both references)
So what about physical blessings? God can certainly still bless us this way and feel free to pray for them, but the point is God has already given us everything spiritual blessing we need in His Will—every one! It’s paramount that Christians understand this as soon as possible. Without this understanding, Christians are destined to have an incorrect view of God and a skewed relationship with Him. With the correct understanding of God’s Will, then whether you’re in a war-torn nation, starving to death, dying of cancer, or have a great life, it doesn’t matter. You have every spiritual blessing (including going to heaven by the way) and can have a close relationship with God.
Therefore of first importance, rather than wondering what God wants you to do and trying to precariously pick it, know what God has already given you and utilize it to live peacefully and make peaceful decisions.
As for our day-to-day decisions all the way to critical life decisions, I believe God gives us freewill to do as we please. Naturally some choices will be better than others—and we should certainly apply Biblical principles—but I do not believe God sets traps for us to punish us if we choose wrongly. God has setup natural consequences for good and bad choices and behaviors and we will learn great lessons from the poor choices we make. James 1:13-14 says: When tempted, no one should say, “God is tempting me.” For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone; but each person is tempted when they are dragged away by their own evil desire and enticed.
But we certainly do want to make decisions that please God. 2Cor 5:9a says, So we make it our goal to please him, and Eph 5:10 says, and find out what pleases the Lord. In addition, we want feedback from God about the decisions we make. It seems reasonable to think good things happening after a decision is feedback from God confirming it was the right choice and vice-versa, but this is the wrong approach. We cannot think for God because His ways and thoughts are above ours—this should be obvious. Rom 8:28 says, And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. This Scripture says that God is always working on our behalf even when we make bad decisions. In other words, God is always “turning lemons into lemonade” not by fixing things, but by teaching us things and perhaps protecting us from too much damage.
As for present and future decisions and plans, there is a simple principle that can be a guide—more importantly, it’s one that can help us plan and formulate our futures: In all you do, aim to reduce suffering in the world. Since you are apart of the world this also applies to reducing suffering in your own life.
You might think in a Christian article I might say “seek and save the lost” for our primary purpose, but I think reducing suffering is a better, more general purpose. By all means, heed the Great Commission and try to help others become Christians; but for those of us who do this, we know it is a very difficult path with periods of long droughts. The number of people one invites compared to those who who accept the message (I mean verifiably accept it) is very low, and this can be discouraging. Even Jesus’ number of followers after three years of ministry was only 120 true followers (Acts 1:15). But how many people did Jesus touch and help? Thousands! And I’m not just referring to those whom he miraculously healed. He befriended many, fed many, and his healing message touched many. These are all things we can do ourselves. And while Jesus was poor monetarily, many of us have money to spare to give and help the needy. Many of us have time (or can make time) to serve the needy and the suffering. And perhaps it is by these acts of service that some will become Christians.
I believe that this is the greater message of the Gospel. Consider one of the most famous scriptures in the Bible, 1Cor 13:1-3:
If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.
Look at all the incredible, powerful and spiritual things one could do, yet if they did them without love, they would be meaningless! That’s because the motivating purpose is paramount. It’s not about using God’s power to do great powerful things, but it’s about loving people the way God loves them. And if you are wondering how God loves people, you needn’t look far because the verses following this, 1Cor 13:4-7, describe God’s love.
And there’s Jesus, who in his well-known “Sheep and Goats” message in Mat 25:31-46, says the sheep are the people that clothed, fed, and gave shelter to the needy, and the goats are those who didn’t see such opportunities as a way to serve Jesus.
There are other verses confirm that our purpose is to reduce suffering in the world. Take for instance Acts 6:1-7 where the early church came together to choose the seven most spiritual people for a great task. What task? To start seven new churches in the land? No, to care for the Greek widows among them. And what was the effect? Besides caring for the widows I’m sure, Acts 6:7 says: So the word of God spread. The number of disciples in Jerusalem increased rapidly, and a large number of priests became obedient to the faith. Therefore because the church concentrated on helping these suffering widows, the Word of God spread and the church grew.
The book of James also speaks boldly about this. James 1:27 says, Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world. James 2:14 says, What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save them? And then in the verses following this, the example he gives is about physically feeding and clothing needy people and not just helping people intangibly by saying things like, “I’ll pray for you.”
Besides this message from the Bible, there’s something to be said about having your primary goal in life—that which gives you meaning—be transcendent in nature. A transcendent purpose is one that really can’t be completed and that goes beyond yourself. The opposite of this is what I call a definitive goal. A definitive goal is one that has a definitive and well-defined end. It’s not that these are bad at all—it’s just if they’re your life’s primary goal you are in for some very deep-seated disappointment. For example, let’s consider great goals like winning the Super Bowl, going to the moon or becoming the President. There are two possibilities:
1) In the case that your purpose is fulfilled (which naturally is very rare for these types of goals), after the euphoria subsides, feelings of disillusion and depression can take over as one struggles to find a new greater (or at least comparable) purpose (in fact this happened to many of the men who set foot on the moon),
2) In the case that your purpose is not fulfilled (much more likely), it leads to hopelessness and dejection because one knows that the purpose could have been fulfilled and yet wasn’t.
Transcendent purposes by definition cannot be fulfilled in a lifetime—one knows this and works on them in perpetuity. This means that the transcendent goal must be one that brings joy and fulfillment as it’s being done. What better a purpose than reduced suffering in your own life, the lives of your family, and the members of your community.