The Will of God

We ask God for something, receive an answer, and begin to trust that he is good. Then a prayer goes unanswered, and we wonder whether we need to ask harder. This week in Practicing the Way, Pastor Josh spoke from Brisbane to all our campuses on Romans 12:2, and on learning to want what God wants for us.

What do you want?

Following Jesus slowly changes the question we bring to him. We still have desires, but we start asking what he wants for our lives. Most of us know from our own choices that getting everything we want can leave us in a mess.

Romans 12:2 ties transformation to discerning God's will. As our minds change, we care more about what pleases him, and the practices we are learning together exist for that. They are not a way to earn salvation. The journey begins with Jesus calling us to follow him.

God's will can sound like a secret that someone else has to decode. Should we marry this person? Take that job? Move to another country? We worry that one wrong decision will put us outside his plans. But God has already made much of what he wants clear. We can love God, care for others and love our enemies today.

A terrible master

Our feelings need care. They can also get used to making our decisions for us, and some of us have a familiar answer ready: I can't be bothered.

On a recent cold, gloomy day, Pastor Josh woke with sadness and the physical aches that come with the depression he has dealt with for years. He usually goes back to bed and waits for it to pass. This time he remembered his “stupid promise” to run 10K by the end of the year, and went out walking and running. Three kilometres in he took a break, then realised he didn't need it. His feelings had started to change.

He kept going and finished 9.5 kilometres, stopping short of 10K, he joked, so he wouldn't die in the last 500 metres. Feelings can lie to us. Feelings are not always lying, and sometimes we need to listen tenderly to them. The aim is to care for our emotions while asking whether they should be the ones steering.

Feeling is a great servant, but a terrible master.

Sometimes that means telling the feeling to be quiet and walking out the door anyway, and letting a renewed mind lead the heart. We can train our emotions to support the life God wants for us, which includes paying attention to what we let shape them.

Learning to enjoy goodness

To discern is to test. Metal is put through fire to show whether it is genuine, and in Romans 12:2 we recognise God's will by trying it out in practice. Philippians 1 likewise links growing love with knowledge and discernment, so that we can recognise what is excellent.

The more we practise, the more we come to like what is good. Serving someone can feel at first like one more demand on a busy week. Once we have felt the joy of giving and loving, we start to want to do it.

House church can feel like an obligation at first. When it becomes part of our rhythm, we may catch ourselves looking forward to it. Hospitality is similar. People who have opened their homes know the joy of making room for others to worship together.

That is why rhythm matters. If we renegotiate every commitment each week, we have to find the energy to start all over again. A regular place in our week gives us repeated chances to find out how good God's requests are. We can learn to delight in his will.

Good, pleasing and perfect

Romans 12:2 calls God's will good, acceptable and perfect. Those words answer the suspicion that following him traps us in a dull life we would never choose.

• Good: God's will includes kindness, hospitality and care for the weak. It is morally good and it is good for us. We can trust that his wisdom exceeds our own.
• Pleasing: Our choices can bring God joy. He gives us the freedom to choose what he delights in and invites us to desire him. Obedience can grow out of finding joy in life with him.
• Perfect: God intends to make things whole. His purpose reaches into the brokenness we carry and beyond us to all humanity. Jesus came to restore life as God meant it to be.

There is room for mistakes. Google Maps reroutes us when we ignore a direction and end up stuck in traffic, and God can bring us back after a wrong turn. His goodness is a reason to listen in the first place, and a reason to return when we have gone our own way.

We also carry things we never chose. Hurtful patterns pass through families and shape how we treat people, and those wounds are real. The gospel points us to another past, Jesus on the cross dealing with sin and making a way to God. We can hope as people who are still growing, trusting his work while we keep facing the brokenness.

Give it time

In 1 Thessalonians 5, God's will comes down to ordinary practices we can start wherever we are.

Rejoice always. Pray without ceasing. Give thanks in all circumstances.

Living this way takes time, because spiritual formation is slow. We can be patient with ourselves, expect setbacks and stay consistent. A bad day does not mean nothing is happening.

Galatians 6 says we reap what we sow, and verse 9 urges us not to give up doing good. Nobody plants a seed and keeps digging it up to see why it hasn't grown. We give it time.

So what are we putting into our lives each day? We can choose what we take in, even though we can't control the outcome. Keep planting what is good and trust that God is working.

This week's Scripture practice

This week's practice is reading the Bible. Give Scripture a regular place in your day. When Pastor Josh once suggested reading one chapter a day, someone told him that was lame and the church should be pushed to read whole books. That is like mocking a beginner for not running a marathon on day one. One chapter a day is a fine start, and habits don't form overnight.

Let the word of God form the story you believe.

If part of you resists that invitation, ask where the resistance comes from. If you have already decided Scripture won't help, someone or something taught you to expect that. Bring the assumption to God and ask him to show you that his word is true and good for you.

Take a moment to pray honestly about where you are. Tell him about the habit that has left you discouraged, the anger you don't know how to handle, or the situation you can't fix. Ask for one thing you can do tomorrow, and keep doing it each day.

Our effort matters, and the power to change comes from God. Ask him to give us a desire to obey, to strengthen and guide us, and to grow us into the likeness of Jesus as we learn his will.