"What is God's will for me?" Have you ever asked yourself this question?
Which house to buy? Where to live? What car to drive? What does my future hold? Whom will I marry? Should I take this job or career? These are some of the many questions that people often ask themselves.
How to know the will of God? The Bible tells us on different occasions how to know the will of God. In this blog, I want to share some erroneous ideas people have about God"s will.
Romans 12:2 tells us, "Do not imitate the behaviors and customs of this world but rather let God transform you into new people by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God's will for you, which is good, pleasant, and perfect." (NTV)
The first thing that Romans 12 urges us to do is to change the way we see things or think if we want to know God's will for our lives. Therefore, we will take a couple of minutes to address some misconceptions that people subscribe to.
"Hit the Target"
Many believe that being in God's will is 'hitting the target' or 'hitting the mark'. But what does this mean? In other words, "If I fail God in something, does that mean I am outside of His will forever?" This is what is implied.
What happens if you fail God? Some teach that if you missed the mark, you can still be in God's will. The only difference is that you will no longer be in the "perfect will of God", but you will be in the "permissive will of God". The only problem with this belief is that people come to believe that everything that happens to them from that moment on is a result of not being in the perfect will of God. For this reason, some leave their partners, citing "the permissive will of God."
In other words, if a person gets bored with his/ her spouse or the marriage is going badly, the solution is to leave the spouse, since he/ she is not God's perfect will for them. Did you notice that? Peculiar, isn't it, that these thoughts tend to arise when they have started to have their eye set on an attractive co-worker and abandon the marriage because of this (like that fixes everything!).
"Wrong door"
Others teach that God's will is a series of doors. As long as you keep taking the right doors, (e.g. good decisions), it keeps you in God's will. The problem with this teaching is, what happens if we go through the wrong door? If I face difficulties or trials, I come to question whether it is the result of having chosen 'the wrong door'.
This erroneous belief can also completely paralyze us for fear of choosing wrong. For those who fear they have been left out of God's will, it seems too late to make a reconciliatory decision, but that is not the case. In Christ, there is restoration and forgiveness. Don't misunderstand what I'm trying to tell you... LISTEN WELL. There are real consequences to the decisions we make.
Furthermore, (and I think this is the most harmful idea of all the misconceptions), we can go so far as to apply this idea in a theologically wrong way, thinking: "If I choose well I will be blessed by God but if I choose wrong, God will curse me." This is the most harmful idea because it affects our faith and establishes in our minds and hearts that God is against us. God is not against you -on the contrary, He is for you!
Likewise, it would be illogical that, as imperfect human beings, we always choose well. Even the wisest man in all of history (Solomon), did not know how to choose well at all times (see, 1 Kings 7:8; 11:1).
I thank the Lord, Jesus Christ, who came to free us from all these erroneous ideas through faith in Him. (see Romans 8:1-17)