I'm sure that most Christians would agree that part of what it means to be a Christian is that now you try and do what God wants rather than what you want. But how do we know what it is that God wants? In some things the Bible helps. For example, Matthew 5:44 tells us that we are to love our enemies...Mark 8:34 tells us that the life of the disciple is the life of self denial...Leviticus 19:15 tells us that we are not to show favouritism but treat everyone fairly...Leviticus 19:19 tells us that we shouldn't wear clothes made with two different kinds of material! Okay - so maybe that isn't as straight forward as some people would want us to believe. But what about those questions of guidance that the Bible has nothing specific to say - which university should I go to...should I get married...who to...which job should I take...where should I live...?
This Sunday morning we're looking at Genesis 24. I'm sure some of us read this kind of story and wish that God would guide us as clearly. I'm also sure that when some of us ask about guidance what we really want is a quick and easy fix - the guide to instant guidance.
In Abraham's story so far we've found him to be obedient to God, someone who believed God, someone who feared God and someone who would not keep anything back from God. I think that this is the backdrop in front of which God guides Abraham and his servant. Romans 12:1-2 reveals that discovering God's will follows self sacrifice, resistance to the ways of the world and having a renewed mind that thinks God's way (e.g. the first will be last ... death=life ... )
Then we find Abraham and the servant planning and praying, and the servant got on the road and started walking and praying. Sometimes we're paralysed by the fear of doing the wrong thing and so we end up doing nothing. But we should be proactive. In order to steer a vehicle that vehicle needs to first of all be moving somewhere. But as we push doors to see what will happen we must remember that God will never ask us to do anything that is against His word. Then we should remember that we were created for community and God invented the church - we're not here on our own - and there are other, wiser, older, more mature Christians that we can talk to about what wethink God might be calling us to. If they all think it is a bad idea then listen to them.
But the context in which we push doors, write letters, go to interviews, go on a date must be that Romans 12:1-2 attitude. If that is our heart attitude then as we push doors I believe that God will guide us and keep us from those paths that He wants us to avoid. Some people will say that it was a coincidence that Abraham's servant found Rebekah but there is no such thing as a coincidence with God.
Click here to listen to this message from Pastor Keith, 14 October 2007.
2 comments:
Couple of things
Firstly, I wholeheartedly agree no such thing as coincidence or even accidents for that matter with God
Secondly, I think I understood you saying that you didn't think that if one was living life as Abraham was in a Romans 12:1-2 way as the context/ backdrop and then there was a roundabout ahead with 5 exits.... and there was all equally as good routes to take...it wouldn't matter to God which one of them you went down if there were all equally good options, He probably thinks just pick whichever one you like...
I agree that it wouldn't matter in the grand scheme of eternity which one if there were all equally good but I don't think that God would not be interested in which one we took.
I was recently having this same conversation with a friend of mine who was wondering how interested God was in some of the microdecisions. Obviously he's got overriding plans and he's the ultimate when it comes to other routes to get to the same place and purpose but I reckon there's a biblical precedent that God IS interested in the minutia (?spelling) of our lives (He knows the hairs on our heads; He delights in His children; He seems to want to be involved in our lives...I think right down to the detail in conversation with Him through prayer.)
I think the detail is significant to Him
Verona
What I was trying to say was that I don't believe that there is necessarily only one 'path' through life that God has fixed for us. And so at times there may be 2 or 3 options open to us, all of which are equally acceptable - i.e. God isn't going to direct us to A, B or C (even though all paths may ultimately end up at D). Any of the three options are within God's will once we've made that choice.
You are right in that I did stress that the context for such a decision has to be a Romans 12:1-2 lifestyle.
But I think that this is slightly different to saying that God is not interested in the details of our life. I also believe that there will be times when there is only one path God wants us to take out of the options that are available.
What I want to avoid is the situation where we do absolutely nothing until God writes the answer to our question in the clouds - or we believe that the life we live is 'second best' because of mistakes we've made in the past and therefore we don't live in the freedom and victory that God has for us.
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