God’s Will Hunting
Every year at our family Easter celebration, we have a huge Easter egg hunt. We hide over 200 Easter eggs. There are 17 children. Most of the eggs have candy in them. Some have money in them. One, the “golden egg”…has $20 in it.
After the guys have hidden all the eggs (not sure why only the guys hide the eggs), the waves of grandchildren go off from the starting line. First are the youngest…followed by the second slightly older group 30 seconds later…followed by the oldest grandchildren 30 seconds later.
Mass pandemonium ensues…
Every year on the Easter egg hunt field of battle there are victories…there are defeats…shrieks of joy…and tears of sorrow. All to be repeated again and again each Easter…I suppose until all the grandchildren have grown up.
Often we hunt after God’s will like it’s an Easter egg: His will for our lives is hidden, We have to go find it, When we do, we get a prize.
Ephesians 5:17 says, “Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is.”
To me, this says three things:
- God has a will for you
- You can understand what that will is
- Not understanding God’s will is foolish.
The implication is understanding God’s will is very important to your spiritual growth. As a general principle the more you live out God’s will in your life the greater spiritual growth you will experience.
So how do you understand God’s will?
Think of God’s will like an archery target.
In the center of God’s will is what God has revealed in the Bible. This part of God’s will is the same for every follower of Jesus. Things like “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind”… or …”Love your neighbor as yourself.”
How do you discover this part of God’s will for you? Simple…read the Bible.
The second circle on the bullseye is God’s specific will for you. This is where you find God’s unique calling and leading on your life over the course of your life. For me it includes things like being a pastor. It also includes the smaller parts of God’s will on a daily basis such as pray for this person…call that person…go and ask this person for forgiveness…give this person money…etc.
To experience significant spiritual growth, it is important to understand what God’s will for you is in both circles. The first is easy…read the Bible.
Understanding the will of God in the second circle is more difficult because it requires regular communication with God…both from Him to you and you to Him. The revelation of this part of God’s will for you is like an ongoing daily dialogue between you and God, where God speaks into your heart through the Holy Spirit. Remember, in this daily dialogue God will never contradict what He has revealed in the Bible.
So how can you understand God’s unique will for your life on a regular basis? The simple answer is live always in the center of the target. When you align your life with what God has revealed in the Bible, the center of the target, you will naturally begin to understand more of God’s unique will for you as you grow spiritually.
Finding God’s will is not like going on an Easter egg hunt. God has not hidden it from you. I am convinced when a follower of Jesus does not understand God’s unique will for them on a regular basis it is because of a misalignment between the person’s life and the center of the bullseye.
Simply put, it is hard to know God’s unique will for your life when you are not following the will for your life He has revealed in the Bible.
Remember, you will always experience the most spiritual growth when you are following both God’s revealed will for you in the Bible and His unique will for you as His unique child.
So where do you begin?
Start by aligning your life with the Bible…God will take it from there.
