Disclaimer: I am not a theologian, pastor, or prophet. I am a thinker who enjoys regularly reading the Bible, thinking about the Bible, and prayer with God. I feel called to help people explore opportunities and plan for them. I believe our greatest opportunities are a relationship and fellowship with Jesus Christ. While this short post (about a 15 minute read) shares some thoughts about God’s will for our life, the Bible has a lot more about God’s will for our lives.
Some Christians believe that God has a master plan for their life, and God actively arranges things in their life. Some Christians believe that God does not actively interfere in people’s lives, but rather nudges us with thoughts and feelings. I feel that Christians need to be careful claiming some situation is an act of God, especially if it was something that some people would consider as bad, harmful, or unjust.
There is a big difference between an act of God, and God allowing humans, or our spiritual adversary, to make a situation happen. Consider the book of Job, God allowed the devil to harm Job, and Job’s friends said it was God punishing Job for something Job did. God later corrected Job’s friends. This is a great mystery, how God’s sovereignty, the influence of our spiritual allies and adversaries, and human free will, make situations happen on earth.
If God wanted us to know that He was actively intervening in our lives, He could easily make it obvious, like talking with us from heaven, as He did with Moses in Exodus 20:22-23, and with the disciples of Jesus in the New Testament in Matthew 3:17, Mark 1:11 and Luke 9:35. Or, consider the end of the book of Job where God directly spoke to, and commended Job, and corrected Job’s friends.
The issue with God doing such overt actions is that it would impose on our free will, to believe in God and have faith in Him. Consider when Jesus told his disciple, Thomas, to his face, “Thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed: blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed” (Jn 20:29). Plus, we now have the complete collection of God’s words, natural laws, and truths, in the Bible. Also, if things do not work out with something we felt called to, God often helps us to use that experience for something even better in the future. All things work together for good, for those who love God and are called to His purpose (Ro 8:28).
I believe it is important to consider the Bible portrays God as a parent. Some Christians believe that God punishes people for disobedience or bad behavior as mostly portrayed in the Old Testament. I believe that God wants us to grow, personally and spiritually, and make our own decisions, which is why He gave us free will. The more we strengthen our relationship and fellowship with the Holy Triune the more we align our heart’s desires with God’s will. The human heart might start out deceitful and selfish (Jer 17:9), but God can give us a new heart and a less selfish spirit (Ez 36:26). At the same time, God also has a plan for our lives (Jer 29:11), which includes Jesus (Isa 7:14 + Mt 1:23, Isa 53:3 + Jn 1:11, and Ro 5:19).
Jesus paid the price for our sins and God loves us (Jn 3:16 and Ro 8:38-40). Jesus encourages us to love God and love other people (Mt 22:37-40) and follow His example (Mt 28:18-20). If I had to summarize the example of Jesus in the New Testament I would say it shows him as mostly a teaching, encouraging, serving, healing, and forgiving, Son of God. The New Testament also tells us to live by the New Covenant of the Spirit, not the Old Covenant of the written code (Ro 7:6). The Law was given through Moses, grace and truth came through Jesus (Jn 1:17).
All respectable historians believe the Bible is a credible historical document. The Bible says over 1,000 times that it is from God, and many characters in the New Testament declared Jesus is the Son of God. the Bible also says humans are made in the image of God (Gen 1:27), as a spirit, with a soul, in a body (1 Thess 5:23), with a spirit of power, love, and a sound mind (2Tim 1:7). As being made in the image of God, we also have power in our thoughts (Pro21:5 and 2 Cor 10:5), our words (Pro 18:21), and our actions (Pro 10:4).
However, our most pressing challenge we must deal with every moment of every day are the desires of our flesh, which are against the desires of the Spirit (Galatians 5:16-26). So our first concern is our desire management. Considering the desires of the flesh, the list starts with a form of lust, but the list contains more forms of anger. This could be telling us that lust is most powerful or dangerous, but anger is most pervasive and persistent.
Then, there are the many other people in our environment who are exercising their free will and pursuing their desires every day, which often includes influencing or manipulating us. Last but not least is the influence of our spiritual allies and adversaries who try and guide us, or tempt us (Eph 6:10-20). What can we do about all this?
Our most important resource is not time, it is truth, because truth allows us to make the best use of our time. Truth is the foundation of education. Truth is the reason we reason. Truth sets us free (Jn 8:32). One of the most important truths is, there are guarantees in life, including opportunities (Gal 6:10), challenges (Jn 10:10 and 16:33), and choices (Gen 1:28, Lk 8:15, and Eph 5:15-17). Of course our daily opportunities and challenges manifest in our physical world, but how we manage our natural desires and spiritual influences (including emotions) are upstream, and often shape, all of our actions.
How we manage our natural desires of the flesh, desires of the Spirit, and the influence of our spiritual allies and adversaries, will determine our actions. Just like a good parent, God wants us to live our calling, in love, and grow our abilities to manage our own lives, to help those around us, renew our mind, be careful with anger, communicate effectively, and forgive (Ephesians 4). God also wants us to let other people live the life God has called them to (1 Cor 7:17).
When I consider what the Bible says about living a good life, I think of the commands and examples that Jesus gave us. Jesus told us to love God and love other people (Mt 22:37-40). Jesus primarily taught, encouraged, served, healed, and forgave people. In summary, Jesus loved people. The only people Jesus did not encourage were the leaders who were fearful of Him, sarcastic with Him, and tried to discourage others from listening to Him. But ultimately, Jesus died for their sins too.
A good example of the teachings of Jesus is His Sermon on the Mount in Matthew chapters 5-7. Another helpful place for life guidance is Proverbs 6:16, which has a list of what God hates, including arrogant pride, lies, false witnesses, murder, wicked thoughts and plans, who does evil, and who disrupts fellowship and friendships.
Considering what God hates, reminds me, near the end of the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus warned the people that not all who claim to be Christians will make it into heaven. Jesus said, on judgement day “many” will claim to have spoken prophecy, cast out demons, and done great works in His name. But they still will not make it into heaven (Mt 7:21-23). I think this has something to do with John 1:17; The law was given through Moses, grace and truth came through Jesus.
Many Christians are not giving people grace, and focus mostly on declaring truths. Our desires of the flesh often tempt us to just share truth, especially when we are angry. However, John 1:17 shows us that grace should come before truth. Or, it might be more effective if we encourage, serve, heal, or forgive, in some way, before sharing or teaching about truth.
Justice is giving people what they deserve for their bad behavior, which has its place. Mercy is not giving people what they deserve for bad behavior, which can lead them to repentance and a better future. Grace is not just giving people mercy, or forgiveness, but also offering them a gift that they do not deserve (like service, healing, or help with their calling). God offers us eternal life, despite being sinners, as a gift of His grace (Eph 2:8-9).
While it is human nature to want to always hand out justice, or an eye for an eye (Ex 21:24). I truly believe this Old Testament verse is meant to limit human anger, hatred, and desire for revenge. Because when many people get angry they want to feel like justice is making an example of people by punishing them beyond their bad behavior. This often tempts them to feel like they were unjustly punished, and can result in hatred. Jesus tells us to forgive others (Mt 6:14). The Bible also says to leave justice to proper authorities (Ro 13:3-4).
Back to influences in our lives. Like anyone my age, I’ve had many significant challenges, and not long ago I had a bad day where a few challenges put their weight on me at the same time, and it resulted in an out of character emotional reaction. It was either from my desires of the flesh, or a spiritual adversary stirring up my emotions, or more likely a bit of both. I learned of a place in my life that someone had hurt me, and I thought I had forgiven them, but I either had not quite fully forgiven them, or unforgiveness had found its way back into my life. I later prayed, repented, and went back to work on forgiveness and my emotional fitness (Jas 1:19 and Pro 14:29).
If I could offer one piece of advice to my younger self, it would be to make time to regularly and deliberately seek knowledge and understanding. Especially around your identity and faith. I believe the best way Christians strengthen our relationship with God is to read the Bible and other biblical books, listen to Bible based sermons, and spend time in Bible based small groups (Pro 27:17 and 1 Jn 1:7). We get to know the Holy Triune better through the Bible. the Bible also shares many timeless and priceless principles about human nature. Hear the word of God and Jesus, hold it tight in an honest and good heart and bear fruit with patience (Lk 8:15).
I would also recommend to regularly repent and pray. I also believe as Christians we strengthen our fellowship with God as we humbly repent of our sins (2 Pt 3:9 and 1 Jn 1:9) be reasonable and pray to Him (1 Th 5:16-18 and Php 4:5-6) and patiently listen and watch for His response, as we go about our day. God often answers our prayers through other people.
I would also recommend to my younger self, consider seeking knowledge from other people (Pro 18:15), as this can save you years of personal experience. Almost anything we want to achieve or overcome, someone has done it and written a book about it.
The deciding factor between the influences of our desires of the flesh, desires of the Spirit, our spiritual allies, and adversaries, is how much personal responsibility we chose to take to build our beliefs, and how much we focus on our desires of the Spirit and our spiritual allies. Our focus, or attention, is the water that gives growth to the things we focus on.
If you found this interesting you will probably find my books interesting also. I have the free pdf book, Key Bible Verses, available below. I also have a self-published book Opportunity Truth, which is not a faith based book, but rather a personal and professional development book that highlights our most important opportunities, and the three part complete growth framework with the foundation, art, and science of growth. I also have a page that highlights my book, Opportunity Truth, at my website https://Anewtrek.com.