Knowing God's Will

In my work with students, the big question that most all of them have at some point in their college career has to do with knowing God's will: what should I major in? who should I date? what the heck am I doing with my life?

I think that there are two extremes that are bad and that faith looks like something in between these two.

On the one hand, there are the martyrs. These people believe that the only way that something could be God's will for their lives is if it's really hard, it's really painful, it's really what they don't want to do, or any combination of any of the above. There are fewer and fewer of these, but they're still out there.

On the other hand, there's the consumers. These folks believe that if I'm not happy then God's not doing his job. God's will for my life has to fit exactly into my plan for my life. If it's comfortable for me, then I'm willing to do it. If not, well...

Alas, these are a growing breed.

So I think that life in the Spirit generally looks like something in-between. Sometimes we sacrifice deeply for the Lord. Sometimes he seems to just hand us an opportunity that's gift-wrapped just for us.

The work of prayer, involving our community (i.e. asking our friends what they think), reading the Scriptures and knowing our own "bent-ness" in these matters (do I tend to be a martyr or a consumer?) all contributes to being able to make a wise decision that is faithful and good.

But I think that ultimately it is the process that matters more than the final product. If we learn faithful processes, the outcomes over the course of our lives will generally be good. If we do not learn how to have wise processes, then our outcomes will not be consistently good.

It is amazing how many of us buy the powerful lie that change in circumstance is what we need in our lives to improve our lives. The problem with that, as one pastor I recently heard put it, is that everywhere you go, there you are. The common denominator is you. If we do not become changed people, we are not very likely to get different outcomes.

Much of life is learning how to make wise and good decisions. What that ultimately boils down to is becoming wise and good people. And that, I believe, is the work of the Spirit in us if only we will submit to it.