It seems so many Christians are desperately seeking to find God’s will for their lives. From my observations, perhaps no other question causes more stress in the life of a believer than this one. I’ve seen far too many Christians paralyzed over not being able to figure out the exact path God wants them to walk. Instead of doing something that would further the mission of Christ, they become frozen in the fear of doing anything outside of God’s perfect will for their lives. As one of my favorite authors, Greg Boyd, reveals in his upcoming book, “The Myth of the Blueprint”, Christians have allowed secular influences to color the way we understand the will of God. We’ve twisted the message of what God’s will is for the Church and narrowed it down into seeking what His will is for our individual lives. That’s not in the Bible; it’s only in our own selfish and short-sighted interpretation.
Recently, a client I was coaching told me they just wanted to figure out what career path God had planned for them. My response was that “God doesn’t really care about what you do for a living as long as what you are doing brings glory to Him.” Many are consumed with pouring over Scripture to determine whether to turn left or right, and become frustrated when the Bible doesn’t reveal which way to go. You won’t find the name of the person you’re supposed to marry or the job you’re supposed to take anywhere in the Bible. God may reveal these to you through earnest prayer, but then again, He may not. In the midst of all the uncertainty, what’s a Christian to do?
Steven Furtick has a great line for this: “When you aren’t sure what God is saying, go back to what He has already said.” In other words, if you are confused about what the will of God is for any given situation in your life, look at what He has already said in His Word. God doesn’t tell you who you should marry, but He does tell you how you should treat the one you marry (Ephesians 5:22-32); it tells us how to love (I Corinthians 13:1-8); for the men in the audience, it even tells us the virtues to look for in a wife (Proverbs 31:10-31). The Bible doesn’t spell out what kind of job you should take, but it does say how you should do your work (Colossians 3:23-24). Scripture tells us how we should live; the will of God is that we simply obey.
I think we sometimes use “seeking the Lord’s will” as an excuse for inaction. It’s far easier to say you’ll pray about something than to actually get up and do it. It’s easier to wait until you feel led than it is to go and be obedient. Modern Christianity has become unrecognizable in light of the Scriptures. You don’t see Paul sitting around waiting to discern the will of God for His life. Rather you see him in constant motion, passionate in His pursuit to obey what God told Him to do. You don’t see the early church holding job fairs or basketball clinics; instead we read about them serving the poor, the sick and the widows. Finding God’s will for your life is not about any sort of mystical discovery; it is a simple matter of obedience, doing the things He has already told us to do.
If we are to be followers of Christ, we must stop trying to find the individual blueprint He has for our lives; that makes it all about us and not about Him. God’s will is always for us to make much of Him and less of us. It doesn’t matter where you live, what you drive or what you do for a living. All that matters is that you do it all for Jesus. All that matters is that we obey every word He has spoken to us. The will of God is simple: love Him with all of your heart, mind, and strength (Luke 10:25-28). Out of that love, you will obey His teachings. Out of that obedience you will find the peace, joy, and satisfaction that only comes from true and total devotion to the Redeemer of your soul. This is God’s will for your life.