God's Will

I'm sure that mixed responses will occur as a result of what I am about to say. But enough small talk and I will cut to the chase.

Over the summer my pastor at church did a series on God's Will. He discussed over a few sermons examples from the Bible and then concluded with the following. I'm going to say them in the way I interpreted his message because he speaks in a higher vocabulary beyond that of the ordinary man.

In our lives as Christians we will and should have a desire to fulfill God's Will. Honestly a lot of the time God's Will is not going to be what we want it to be. Nor will it necessarily be the "easiest" way out. Alot of the time people will ask how to know what God's Will is because they have this strong desire to do it. Rather, they already know what it is but are trying to justify and mold it into our own selfish ambitions. But remember that God's not out to get us. He's not trying to make our lives miserable. Ultimately the "rules" and "laws" and whatnot aren't there to harm us, but rather set us free. Without law there is chaos, its the way God built the world. So now let me cut to the chase. At school I explained this to my friends (I go to a Christian school) and they had a lot to say about it. So I'm really interested in knowing what you guys think about it as well.

God's Will can be summed up in the following.

Hearing that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, the Pharisees got together. One of them, an expert in the law, tested him with this question:

"Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?" Jesus replied: " 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments."

For those who want to do the Will of God, compare your decisions to that law. Ask yourself the following (prioritized, loving God is more important than loving your neighbours, if loving your neighbour interferes with loving God then you must put God first):

1. Is this word I choose to say, or action I choose to perform out of love for God? (Is it honoring to Him?)
2. Is what I am doing or saying going to be a demonstration of love to my neighbours?

Remember, God's Will never meant to be something enigmatic, ambiguous or mysterious beyond human comprehension. All he wants from us is to love because he first loved us. As we move forward in life and make the key decisions that affect our futures, if we want to do God's Will simply follow those two greatest commandments. Although this is directed towards the grade 12 leaders who are planning ahead for what they hope to do after high school, consider those two questions.

I firmly believe that if the actions, words, and decisions that I perform, say and make in my life are out of love for God and solely for honoring Him, you can be guaranteed that it is his will. I can't think of a single situation in history where one did something out of love for God and it was against his will. God is love, and love is a verb.

Discuss.