When You Wonder the Will of God

“Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.” - I Thessalonians 5:16-18

I read this scripture this morning and once again God took a passage that I’m quite familiar with and helped me see it in a different way.

The fourth phrase is what gets me… “for this is God’s will for you.”

How often do we plead, beg and stress over understanding God’s will for our lives? More and more I continue to believe that God could really care less about what I do for a career. Don’t get me wrong. I think it’s part of His will for me. He does desire for me to operate fully from the gifts that He’s given me and He has given all of us the call to “go into all the world and make disciples.” But what if our career is not the starting place to understand God’s will for our lives?

In our culture we’re conditioned to begin planning our careers from the time we’re able to talk. “What do you want to be when you grow up?” is a question every child is prepared to answer. But in our quest for purpose I think we start in the wrong place.

God’s will for us is so much more about the “who” we’re becoming rather than the “what” we’ll be doing.

According to this passage from I Thessalonians, God’s will for us is three things that have nothing to do with our occupation:

• Be joyful always
• Pray continually
• Give thanks in all circumstances

What if we started there?

What if back when you were five and were asked what you wanted to be when you grew up,  the acceptable answers were “joyful,” “prayer warrior” or “thankful” rather than doctor, teacher or ballerina?

Too often in my pursuit of God’s will for my life I find myself striving and stressed out over understanding what He wants me to do rather than who He really wants me to be.

How about you?

CC Image • Robert S. Donovan on Flickr