Good ole' Columbus has been called a lot of things over the centuries. Ultimatley, it tuns out, his math was not too good, his science was not sound, his procalimed religion of Christianity did not match the tyrant ruler he later became. He did manage to get a holiday named after him... just think, maybe David Johndrow Day - probably would fall on April 1st or Februay 29th.
Who knows how one's destiny will turn out?
I was reading The Church of No People a while back and musing over Matt's career choice dilema. As always, it made me think about my path through life - which looks a bit like a china shop attended by a large bull - if you know what I mean. My career path was a disaster until I met a prophetic guy that put me on God's path.
I thought about the decisions that turned out right (well, without pain anyway), and the ones that turned out wrong - and the ones that God used in spite of my ignorance, fear, arrgoance, stupidity and lack of faith. I was going to write about how to follow God's will - but let's face, it is not a logical science (anymore than men and woman understanding each other right out of the box).
There are some things I heard in church about how to figure out what God wants you to do, and I don't believe them all.
-1 The will of God for you is contained in the Bible: I don't think so! I looked in there, and even though the name David is used a lot, it didn't tell me what job to take, what wife to marry, and what to tell my kid when she got arrested. Don't fool yourself, it is not always "in the Bible."
The Bible contains truth, goldy principals, and the story and method of salvation. It is even tells you what your life should look like, if you get Jesus in your heart. But it is not the complete will of God for you life anymore than this blog is.
The Bible even says that it is not His complete will. Why else would we need to ask for wisdom, have the "word of wisdom", prophecy, word of knowledge, word of faith, prophets, seers and prophetic people?
-2 All you need to know about life is in the Bible: Along the same lines as number 1. If that were true, we wouldn't need preachers and teachers, and eveyone that got saved could just read the Bible and follow the steps.
And, after reading tens of thousands of pages of software manuals, I am certain there are no curly brackets, underscores or pipes {_|_} in the Bible.After having teenagers, there are a few things I wasn't ready for - and I read the bible through a few times before they got there.
We must rightly divide the word of God, and there is a lot of intellectual theory on that. The trick is in knowing how to do it. It takes wisdom.
I read the Bible, and I beleive that asking God for wisdom is a great idea. But what if you need money and not wisdom? What if you need healing and not wisdom? What if you've been praying for your kd to get their life in godly order and they get worse?
How can we be so shallow as to beleive that by throwing up a prayer (expecting our answer, our way) that God will fire back the perfect wisdom?
There are lots of ways to get wisdom - and godly wisdom. We have proverbs, fellowship and council from other Christians, and the word of wisdom. Oh yeah, and experience!
The truth is that we may have created a situation in which God is not going to provide wisdom for us - sin can often be a factor.
-4 A successful church will be growing: There are lots of tests for seeing if the church is bearing fruit. The two most common are the lack of empty seats on Sunday morning and the amount of money in the offering basket. Yeah, right.
John the Baptist was out there preaching the coming of the Christ, and he had a bad attitude. He was mad that the Pahrisees were coming to get on the "go to Heaven plan."
Honestly - church growth appears to be a "Tower of Babel."
The true success of Christianity is this: Individuals in church loving their God and their neighbors in visible ways.
-5 Ministry: I am sick of the term "ministry." I hear a lot of "my ministry" or the hyper-humble "the Lord's ministry." It always has a name, a title, a purpose, a business card, a web site and pictures of the ministers on it. (Yes, I do that sort of - )
How about we simply get out there and love folks, use our gifts to "be Jesus" to them and see what the Holy Spirit is up to? Following the leading of the Holy Spirit, we can do awesome things. If we follow our agenda, or a formula, it will grow into an old wineskin in due time.
The point of all this, is that we have tried to put God in a box. He speaks when, and how He pleases. His biblical truth are unwavering, yet, His purpose is to have a personal relationship with us. Religion separates us from God, because it removes the personal touch, the subtle back-and-forth of giving and receiving. Some folks spend a lot of time playing ministry, but the mature Christians just go out and love folks with their gifts - it's just so not about names and titles.
To do the will of God, we must be able to hear God, to know God and to be obedient to Him. Walking out our faith is a moment-by-moment journey. Like driving a car, some of the nuances of it may become second nature after a while (I never look down to find the gas pedal or the gear shift anymore), but we always need to see where we are going, adjust to conditions, and decide the best route to get there.
The will of God, is not in a book, it is in a relationship!
How about you, do you really know what God wants you to do, or are you guessing?
Comments
I like that. I'm going to keep that in mind.
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