by Well, I’m sorry for my absence, but it seems that my family has gotten, and is still dealing with, all sorts of strains of viruses, and Virtuous Blonde and I have been trying to keep fevers down and fight the stuff ourselves. Needless to say, it’s been taking up most of our days…
How do people around you treat “the will of God.” To me, it seems like this phrase is getting abused and misused in Christianity today. I think Christians have started using this as a “catch-all”– a response to two basic problems:
- We use the “will of God” to mean something that is out of our control. An example of this is when someone dies, an “act of God” happens, or something that we didn’t pray for or didn’t expect happened.
- We use the “will of God” to add weight to an argument. This phrase is invoked as kind of an easy escape from an argument, or as kind of the “I got you, you’re not going to have a comeback to this one!” response.
I was recently perturbed at the latter use when someone said that it was the “will of God” that I attend a conference last weekend. I was not planning on it, due to the amount of time I’ve had to put into things other than being the husband/father I need to be. Furthermore, it was about this time that my children started having their colds, and I would not have imagined leaving my wife with all of that while I was off “growing”.
Was it the “will of God” that I go? I don’t believe so– otherwise I should be rebuked, and repent and maybe not be a church leader since I obviously didn’t follow God’s will. It was, I believe, God’s will that I was with my family, as evidenced by the hardship that they went through. Neither is it not God’s will not to go to a conference because you are sick. And, lastly, if we take the argument that it was to its extreme, I should never work, because I can probably find a conference somewhere, or a speaker somewhere, and I should attend.
But I digress… My point is, I think we as Christians are getting extremely lazy. We only use the phrase when it suits us, and usually as a catch all. God has a will or a method for all of our interaction– be it in our meetings, in our services, in our everyday lives– but you don’t catch us talking about the “will of God” then. We’re content to have our own will, unless we can’t convince another of it, or our will is thwarted.
My question to you is– is what you do your will or God’s? Are you in the process of making your will His? Do you consider His will in decisions– even the small ones– and what will you do differently if you don’t?
