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Pastor Jay's Blog

An Ironic Pursuit of God’s Will

 

Irony has a special place in my heart. I think it has to do with the way truth gets displayed in spite of people’s deceptive or idiotic ways. For example, the British Prime Minister Gordon Brown hand-wrote a letter of condolence to a mother whose son had died in Afghanistan, but unfortunately he misspelled the deceased’s surname. A newspaper published a blistering article criticizing his lack of care, but ironically, in that very article they misspelled the same name and were forced to publish an apology of their own. That is an ironic display that honest mistakes are easily made.

Irony is always at work in apologetics as well. The Unbeliever is incessantly forced to undercut his footing every time he speaks about God. For instance, how many times have you heard people lambast the character of God? After listing every atrocity they can think of, they then point to God and charge Him with guilt for causing or allowing all this evil. As an old apologist once said, they are like the little girl who has to climb up and sit on her father’s lap so that she can slap his face. The unbeliever has to use God’s objective standards of morality in order to bring a charge against God’s morality. Oh the irony!

Sadly, God’s people are not immune to the ironic displays caused by indwelling sin. One in particular is the focus of this blog. It has to do with the way God’s people can pursue God’s will.

God’s will is a big deal. The very definition of a Christian includes someone who has humbled themselves to the Lordship of Christ, desiring to follow Him all their lives. Christians know that God is right, wise, and loving, and so His will is essential for all decision making. That is enough to make the pursuit of God’s will all-consuming. Additionally, many Christians have the unbiblical notion that God has a single and perfect plan for their life that can be missed, leading to a life of misery and/or untapped potential. One or both of those thoughts can result in Christians worrying and fretting over finding God’s will.

But did you see what is happening? We have stumbled into an irony within the spiritual life of the Christian. This person is worrying about doing God’s will, yet God’s will is that they should not worry. How ironic.

This sad irony can be remedied with a review of what God’s will is and how to pursue it. First, God’s will has two features. His decreed will is what God foreordains from eternity past and it will happen. It is a secret and you will only know it by looking to the past for what has happened, and what God has promised for the future in prophecies. The other feature is God’s revealed will, which is found in Scripture. All of His commands and principles and examples are what God wants. If you know Scripture, you know God’s will. And one of God’s commands is not to worry (Matthew 6:25; Philippians 4:6).

Second, what does this mean for seeking God’s will? Wonderfully, it means that you don’t have to worry about it. Should it matter to you, fill your prayers, be studied diligently, and earnestly pursued? Absolutely! But not with worry. That would be sinfully ironic. What you are striving for is the balance of earnest pursuit and reliant trust. The Christian is free in Christ, but also a slave. He can rest as a child, but also work as a bondservant. We rest in God’s commitment to work all things for good and to finish what He started in us. But we are also bound to follow our Lord’s commands.

On the practical level this means the Christian studies his Bible, prays fervently, talks to mature believers in the church, gathers all the relevant information, probes his heart for deceptive lusts, and finally makes a decision. However, the Christian should also know that even the right process will often be done deficiently. We are still sinners and that will affect our decision making. But God knows that as well and will even use our deficiencies as He plants our steps. That is a glorious reality which will allow the child of God to make decisions without worry. The gospel tells us that God’s grace is ours even in our sin and deficiencies. Therefore, we make decisions using His all sufficient Word, but most importantly we make decisions while resting in the promise of life and grace now and forever through the gospel.

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