Just do something

I've been reading this pretty great book called "Just do something" by Kevin DeYoung. Its a liberating approach to finding God's will OR ...ehim...and i quote..."How to make a decision without dreams, visions, fleeces, impressions, open doors, random bible verses, casting lots, liver shivers, writing in the sky, etc." This little book is a mini pocket rocket! It has some eye opening, life changing wonderful things to say...and I totally recommend everyone who reads this to get your butt over to your nearest Koorong bookshop and buy yourself a copy! :)

OK...so all marketing ploys aside, I would like to share some cool thoughts with you...brace yourself...and let me reiterate - every inspired word below is all Kevin DeYoung...but i have tried to summarise as best as i can...sorry to disappoint... ;)

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The hesitancy so many of us feel in making decisions and settling down in life and therefore diligently searching for the will of God in our lives has at least two sources.

First, the new generations enjoy - or at least think they enjoy "unparalleled freedom." Nothing is settled after high school or even college anymore. Life is wide open and filled with endless possibilities, but with this sense of opportunity comes confusion, anxiety, and indecision. "With everything I could do and everywhere I could go, how can i know what's what?" - Enter a passion to discern "Gods will for my life."

Second, our search for the will of God has become an accomplice in the postponement of growing up, a convenient out for the young (or old) christian floating through life without direction or purpose. Too many of us have passed off our instability, inconsistency and endless self exploration as "looking for Gods will", as if not making up our minds and meandering through life were marks of spiritual sensitivity. As a result we are full of passivity and empty on follow through. When it comes to our future, we should take some responsibility, make a decision, and just do something.

If God has a wonderful plan for my life, then why doesn't he tell me what it is? After all, our lives down here are a confusing mess of fits and starts, dead ends and open doors, possibilities and competing ideals. There are so many decisions to make and none of the answers seem clear. We seek relief from the responsibility of decision-making and we feel less threatened by being passive rather than active when making important decisions.

The way many Christians treat Gods will is no different than you might treat a horoscope. We come to God and we want to know "Is the job market good for Kevin today? Will I find my true love? Should I live in states that start with the letter A?" Our fascination with the will of God often betrays our lack of trust in Gods promises and provision. We want him to show us the end from the beginning and prove to us that He can be trusted. And so we obsess about the future and we get anxious, because anxiety, after all, is simply living out the future before it is here.

We should be hopeful in looking to the future because God is in control, not us. We must renounce our sinful desire to know the future and to be in control. We are not gods. We walk by faith, not by sight. We risk because God does not risk. We walk into the future in Gods-glorifying confidence, not because the future is known to us but because it is know to God. And that's all we need to know. Worrying about the future is not simply a character tic, it is the sin of unbelief, an indication that our hearts are not resting in the promises of God. Worry and anxiety are not merely bad habits or idiosyncrasies. They are sinful fruits that blossom from the root of unbelief. Gods way is to tell us that He knows tomorrow, He cares for us, and therefore, we should not worry. Lamentations 3:22-23

God expects us to make choices, confident that He's already determined how to fit our choices into His sovereign will. Passivity is a plague among Christians. Its not just that we don't do anything, its that we feel spiritual for not doing anything. We imagine that our inactivity is patience and sensitivity to Gods leading. When we hyper-spiritualise our decisions, we can veer off into impulsive and foolish decisions. But more likely as Christians we fall into endless patterns of vacillation, indecision and regret.

The fact is, most big decisions in life leave us feeling a bit unsettled. They are after all, big decisions, but this does not mean the Lord is with-holding peace about the decision to get you to back out. I'm not saying subjective decisions are wrong. We make decisions based on a 'feeling' all the time. But a subjective divining of Gods will should not be your decision making process. I'm just saying that we don't have to wait for the "all clear" feeling in our bones before we head out. Would God really spare us all from all accidents if we simply asked Him enough particulars and prayed hard enough at the start of the day? And how do we do His will anyway other than probing some subjective feeling in our gut that inevitably leads to much hand-wringing and second-guessing?

If there really is a perfect will of God we are meant to discover, in which we will find tremendous freedom and fulfillment, why does it seem that everyone looking for God's will is in such bondage and confusion? Christ died to give us freedom from the law (Galations 5:1), so why turn the will of God into another law leading to slavery? What a burden. Expecting God, through our subjective sense of things, to ping the way for every decision we face, no matter how trivial, is not only impractical and unrealistic, it is a recipe for disappointment and false guilt. And that's hardly what intimacy with Jesus should be all about.

God never assures us of health, success, or ease. But He promises us something even better, to make us...loving, pure and humble like Christ. In short, Gods will is that you and I get happy and holy in Jesus. So go get a job, provided its not wicked. Go live somewhere in something with somebody or nobody. But put aside the passivity and the quest for complete fulfillment and the perfectionism and the preoccupation with the future, and start making some decisions in your life. If you are seeking first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, you will be IN Gods will, so just go out and do something.

So what is Gods will? Gods will is your growth in Christlikeness. God promises to work all things together for our good that we might be conformed to the image of his son. (Romans 8:28 - 29).

God wants us to stop obsessing about the future and trust that He holds the future. We should put aside the passivity and the perfectionism and the quest for perfect fulfillment and get on with our lives. God does not have a specific plan for our lives that He means for us to decipher ahead of time.

Paul, for example, on occasion, God directly told him to go somewhere, but most of the time Paul made decisions like the rest of us. He used rather tentative phrases like, "It seamed good to the Holy Spirit and to us" (Acts 15:28-29). In almost every case, he simply decided where to go and how to get there (Acts 20:16). We have no record in the New Testament of anyone anxious to hear God tell him what to do. Paul never sought out special words of knowledge concerning his future. He seems very concerned to know and obey Gods moral will. But when he gets to a fork in the road, hesitating and pleading with God to know which way to go seems completely foreign to the apostle.

What we should be doing is praying for wisdom. What is wisdom? Wisdom is understanding the fear of the Lord and finding the knowledge of God. Wisdom, in Proverbs, is always moral. The fool, the opposite of the wise person, is not a moron or oaf. The fool is the person who does not live life Gods way. Wisdom is knowing what God is doing as He commands. Isn't it interesting that we are never told in scripture to ask God to reveal the future or to show us His plan for our lives? But we are told - in no uncertain terms - to call out for insight and to cry aloud for understanding. In other words, God says "Don't ask to see all the plans I've made for you. Ask me for wisdom so you'll know how to live according to my book".

Gods word is living and active. When we read the Bible, we hear from God with a confidence we find in no other book and from no other voice. But the Bible is not a casebook. It doesn't give us explicit information about dating or careers or when to build a church or buy a house. We've all wished that the Bible was that kind of book, but it's not because God is interested in more than getting us to follow His to-do list, He wants transformation. God doesn't want us to merely give external obedience to His commands. He wants us to know Him so intimately that His thoughts become our thoughts, His ways our ways our ways, His affections our affections. God wants us to drink so deeply of the scriptures that our heads and hearts are transformed so that we love what He loves and hate what He hates. Romans 12:1-2 is the classic text about this kind of spiritual transformation. If we do these 3 things God asks in this passage, then we will be able to discern what Gods will is.

One of the virtues I appreciate most in others, and its a virtue I hope I have in some measure, is teach-ability. Are you willing to change your mind when another persons case has more merit than yours? Are you able to hear good advice when it comes from some mouth other than your own and may even contradict your preconceived ideas? If no one has ever heard you change your mind about something, then you are either a god or you have mistaken yourself for one. I can say without a doubt that I make better decisions with my wife. I make better decisions with the elders rather than without them. I am wiser when I listen to my friends first. Now, of course, often you just have to decide things on your own. And sometimes you need to make an unpopular decision because you know its right. But for most of our decisions we would do well to simply ask someone else. We spend all this time asking God, "what's your will?" when He's probably thinking, "Make a friend, would you? Go talk to someone. There is a reason I've redeemed a lot of you because you do fewer dumb things when you talk to each other. Get some advice. You might just hear My voice."

The way of wisdom means 3 things: searching the scriptures, seeking wise council, and praying to God. But what do we pray for if we aren't asking God to tell us exactly what to do? Firstly We ask God to open our minds so we can understand the scriptures and apply them to our lives. Secondly we pray for wisdom. The way of wisdom is a way of life. And when its a way of life, you are freer than you realise. God wants us to make good decisions that will help us be more like Christ and bring Him glory. And thirdly, pray for things that you already know are gods will. Pray for good motives in your decision making. Pray for an attitude of trust and faith and obedience. Pray for humility and teach-ability. Pray for His gospel to spread. You know that He wants these things in the world and in your life. Pray for them. Seek first His Kingdom and His righteousness.

Many of us want to spare ourselves poor decision making by waiting and thinking...but we can also miss good opportunities and waste valuable time by grinding the wheels of choice into a pseudo-spiritual halt before we pencil something in on the diary. Study the scriptures, listen to others, and pray continually, that's the best course of action, not just at the moment of crisis, but as a way of life. And as you engage in these practices, don't forget to make a decision - always with wisdom, always with freedom, and sometimes even with speed.

So the end of the matter is this: Live for God. Obey the scriptures. Think of others before yourself. Be holy. Love Jesus. And as you do these things, do whatever else you like, with whomever you like, wherever you like, and you'll be walking in the will of God!

:)