Knowing God's Will for Your Life
Midweek Devotional
1 Thessalonians 4:3a – It is God’s will that you should be sanctified…
Not What You Were Thinking… Yet
Today’s devotion will no doubt disappoint you if you came to it with the hope and expectation of learning how to decide what job to take, whom to marry, or where to move. That’s often what we really mean when we say we want to know God’s will for our lives, isn’t it? I am no different.
But quite often those desires turn to despair when it is discovered that God doesn’t tell us in Paul’s letter to the Romans or the Gospel of Matthew that you should indeed take that job, marry that person, or move to that place. And because it doesn’t give us the specifics we want; we sometimes end up frustrated over the apparent “inaccessibility” of knowing God’s will for our lives.
My usual counsel to such troubled souls is to encourage them by letting them know God’s will can be found on virtually every page of the Bible. God is not trying to hide his will from us or playing some sort of shell game with his children. Today’s text gives us an example of what I’m talking about. Paul teaches us in our verse:
It is God’s will that you should be sanctified.
From and For
“Sanctified” is a biblical word which simply means, “to be set apart.” But what does that mean? Set apart from what? Set apart for what? Well first, it means to be set apart from something – specifically, from the world, the flesh, and the devil. It means the fallen, rebellious, autonomous, sinful, patterns of living and idolatry we once practiced are to be repented of, put off, died to, and left behind.
“Sanctified” also means that we are set apart for God. In Christ, God has made us his own. He is now molding us into the image of his dear Son. Thus, he calls us to love, trust, obey, and walk with him daily, that we might become increasingly like him. The Apostle Peter, in his first epistle, quotes Leviticus and reminds us of God’s command to be holy as God is holy. Just a few verses from today’s text, in 1 Thessalonians 4:7, Paul declares, “…God did not call us to be impure, but to live a holy life.”
When we hear and receive Christ’s redeeming call and are born anew by the power of his Spirit, we immediately (though imperfectly) begin the process of becoming what God says we already are. God, in a manner of speaking, says to us:
You are holy. Now go and be holy. Go and be who you already are.
To die to yourself, pick up your cross, and follow Christ is what it means to live a sanctified life, one that jettisons the old, fallen self, and instead, puts on Christ as of first importance. It’s a life that immediately seeks his righteousness.
This is God’s will for you. The better you know God, and the more you know of God – his person, work, ways, and word – and the more you pursue them daily and whole-heartedly in your life – the more likely you will be able to discern his particular will for your life: that job to take, that person to marry, that place to move.
Seek first God and his righteousness, and the answers to those other questions will be revealed to you in time (Matt. 6:33).
Walking Points
What do you think most people mean when they say they want to know God’s will for their lives? Is that what you usually mean?
How can knowing God’s revealed will for your life, (i.e., that we are called to be sanctified, etc.), help you to better know and understand his particular will for your life?
In light of this devotional and the verses of Scripture shared, what advice would you give a friend or family member who was searching for God’s will?
Prayer
Holy Father, you have called me to be holy as you are holy. But more than that, you have recreated me in your image and given me your Holy Spirit. Your very holiness dwells within me and I am truly a new creature in Christ. For that I give you my eternal thanks and praise. And yet, I do not always see your holiness in myself – the thoughts I think, the words I speak, the life I live. Please forgive me. I know the reason for my sin and shortcomings are not because you have withheld your resources from me, but because I have neglected to make use of them. I cannot be holy apart from your power and guidance, but you will not cause me to live a holy life without my participation. Please help me Father to pursue a holy life that seeks to know you better with each and every passing day. And as I grow closer to you, know you better, and become more like you, I pray I will better discern your particular will for my life. In Christ I pray. Amen.