Tuesday, March 11, 2014

EMMDEV 2014-03-11 [Lent2014] 35. Excursus: Finding God's Will

Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God--this is your spiritual act of worship. 2 Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is--his good, pleasing and perfect will. Romans12:1-2

Yesterday we saw that Penitence towards God starts by doing things His way. The difficult question is: "How do I know God's will?"

The answer to that question is a bit roundabout because the answer is that I know God's will by doing it! But you ask: "How can I do His will if I don't know what it is?"

Imagine travelling in a circle that slowly grows larger and moves upward. An upward, expanding spiral. When we start off by doing whatever it might be that we believe God is telling us to do, we are starting to WORSHIP Him (offering our bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to Him). When we _choose_ to worship, we are NOT CONFORMING to the pattern of this world (which chooses to be self-centred and self-worshipping). This conscious decision to worship TRANSFORMS and RENEWS our minds - we are reformatting and reprogramming our lives and habits. As we do this we discover that some things bring us closer to God and others drag us away. In so doing we TEST and APPROVE what works in our relationship with God and this leads us to knowing His good, pleasing and perfect WILL.

An analogy: Brenda and I were married 21 years ago. Back then I made a commitment to love, honour and cherish her. That commitment started out with the simple things: which side of the bed she likes to sleep on, where she'd like the toothpaste to live, and so on. As I have shaped my life around hers (and she around mine) my knowledge of her has deepened. I have learned that some things drive her crazy and some things make her feel appreciated and loved. After these many years we complete each other's sentences and make a formidable charades team. One would say we know each other's will. I know Brenda because I have listened and looked, but also because I have deepened my commitment to her over the years.

My point??? Knowing God's will is best achieved by ongoing friendship with God. As we DEEPEN the relationship, we'll know His will better.

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Theo Groeneveld theo@emmanuel.org.za
You can see past EmmDevs at http://emmdev.blogspot.com/