Thought for Today

Mark 3:35  Whoever does the will of God is my brother and sister and mother."

John 1:12  But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God, 13  who were born, not of blood or of the will of the flesh or of the will of man, but of God.

John 7:17  Anyone who resolves to do the will of God will know whether the teaching is from God or whether I am speaking on my own.  

Ephesians 1:1  Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, To the saints who are in Ephesus and are faithful in Christ Jesus:

What is the will of God? That question came to mind this morning as I came into our sunroom and sat down at my computer. Next to my computer, I keep a book, The Will of God by Leslie D. Weatherhead. My copy is from my late father’s library, copywrite 1947. The book is still available; and, I highly recommend it. The short book is based on a series of talks Rev. Weatherhead presented to his own congregation.

Most Christians pray the Lord’s Prayer. Some daily, some in worship, some in private. Our own congregation includes this prayer Jesus taught to his own disciples. When we pray that model prayer, we repeat, “Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” I wonder how many of us ever stop to think about exactly what we are praying for in those words.

I did a search on my Bible software for the phrase ‘will of God.’ Regrettably, either my software cannot search for phrases . . . or, I am not ‘tech-savvy’ enough to know how to do such a search. The result I got from my search was a list of every Bible verse containing those 3 words, in any order. But, I did find a number of verses, especially those above in the New Testament, including the phrase ‘will of God.’ Paul especially liked to use the phrase in his epistles, often in the introduction.

It seems to me that all who refer to themselves as Christian should center their lives on knowing and fulfilling the will of God. The will of God should be the primary motive force for every Christian life. Every word a Christian utters, every thought going through a Christian mind, every act by a Christian should consciously and deliberately focus on fulfilling the will of God. As I look at the world around me, I know that is not the case.

It is easy to make generalizations, to critique ‘the world.’ As I write these words, I am asking myself, “How about your own life?” When I am faced with a decision in my own life, either a small, trifling decision or a huge, grand decision, is my first thought to ponder on how that decision fulfills the will of God? Sure, let’s go with that! Yet, each Sunday as I lead the congregation in the Lord’s Prayer, I say those words, I pray for God’s will to be done on earth as it is in heaven.

John understood the importance of the will of God. Look at what he recognizes as the significance of the will of God. “to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God.” We who are Christians, we who received Jesus and believe in Jesus have the power to become children. And we have believed and received because we were born of the will of God.

That gospel truth is what Paul reminded the church in Ephesus, “2:8 For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God—” We are Christians; we are children of God; our salvation is through our faith and is the gift of God. We don’t have to worry about anyone or anything else. We have been granted God’s gift, freely given to us through our faith. Questions about whether or not anyone else has been saved are meaningless. The gift is God’s to give to whomever God chooses to give that gift. All we need to do is to accept and believe.

So, when I pray those words of the Lord’s Prayer, am I fully aware of the implications? Honestly, no. Mostly I’m focused on not forgetting the words that come next. Do I always think about those words every time I say anything? Honestly , no. The truth is, I do not, in part because I do believe. I have accepted Jesus as my personal savior. I do have that faith Paul references. A consequence of my belief and my faith is that I do often reflect on the will of God, and I do intentionally and deliberately try to center my very existence on the will of God. And, I’ve read the book. I know that in each of the stages of that Creation process, “God saw that it was good.” I just focus on doing my part to keep it all good.

Stay safe, think about God’s will, trust God,

Pastor Ray