For us who are seeking to live as disciples, we are often trying to understand God's desire and purpose for our lives. My friend and former professor Richard Jensen wrote an article a while back suggesting an answer to the question "How do I figure God's will for my life?" Dr. Jensen gives us an important viewpoint for looking at our lives, which fits right into the puzzle called discipleship that we are piecing together. He writes that God's will for our lives can be seen in three broad strokes. Here's what he wrote.
People want to know the true purpose of their lives. Let me suggest three things that can be said in answer to this question.
First, we know the framework of God's will for our lives in this world: we are called to love God and to love our neighbor (cf. Matthew 22:36-40 and 1 John 4:20-21).
All the decisions we make about our lives ought to be framed within these two great commandments. Our lives are not our own to do with as we please. We are called to love God by loving our neighbor. This is the framework in which our lives ought to be lived.
Second, we know we live our lives under the canopy of God's forgiving love.
This is a very important reality. I do not believe that God's specific will for our life is revealed to many of us for "we walk by faith, not by sight" (2 Corinthians 5:7).
We can pray and pray for God's specific will to be revealed to us, but few of us will have our prayers answered. So, as Martin Luther advised, we will have to choose boldly our path. We don't often know for certain which is the right path. We choose, knowing that God's forgiving love will sustain us in the midst of lives' many decisions.
And third, we know that nothing can separate us from the love of God.
In Romans 8:28 we read, "We know that all things work together for good for those who love God..." God is at work in the midst of our decisions.
In a sense, this passage from Romans tells us that God is always working to make the best out of our decisions. Our bad decisions do not separate us from God. As people claimed by Jesus Christ and committed to Jesus Christ, we choose, we decide, and we act.
We act in the assurance that nothing can separate us from the love of God in Jesus Christ.
As we seek to live as disciples, living in the knowledge that we are called to love God and neighbor, that we live under the canopy of God's love and that nothing can separate us from that love can give us the courage daily to seek to follow Jesus and to seek his will, knowing that we are forgiven sinners.
So, keep these three reminders close by and live boldly as a disciple of Jesus, our Risen Lord.
Easter Blessings,
~ PD
