Why God Doesn't Tell You What to Do

Photo courtesy Morguefile.com

I took my dad shopping recently. One of the items he wanted was some regular skin lotion from a particular brand. When we got into the isle where lotion was located, we found his favorite brand. But we were presented with multiple choices other than “regular” or “just plain lotion.”

There was skin lotion with aloe, vitamin E, cucumber, natural oatmeal, and on and on. But nothing that my dad could figure out. He just wanted skin lotion with nothing added. He didn't want to buy something he wasn't sure he wanted.

In our society we celebrate the ability to make choices. We think we want to be able to have anything, with the latest features and gadgets. We want our options. And we want them now. And we assume this is what we mean by the word freedom.

It is true that freedom allows us to make decisions. But it also means that we have the freedom to succeed or fail. Freedom is not a guarantee of success, nor is it an absolute.

So what does this have to do with
discerning God's will?

Plenty.

Let's say you are a Christian who wants to get married. But you want to find the right mate of course. (You know what I mean. The mate God has for you.) So, you look for signs of God's guidance. When you feel God is leading you to someone, you marry what you believe to be the person God wants you to have.

But then you find the person you married doesn't share your faith or values. And it's becoming a source of great conflict. And then you meet someone else. And this person is your real soul mate. Now you feel you've missed the “will of God.” So now you feel stuck because you failed to discern God's leading. Or worse, you feel God wants you to divorce and marry the other person.

Here's the problem. God's will is contained in his Word, not in our feelings. And success or failure is defined by God, not by what we perceive. Since we are responsible for our choices, we need to make a wise choice. There's no need to deviate from what God says is good and right. We just need to pay attention. Then make the best choice we can, having faith that God will be with us and guide us.

Following, we also need to define success the way God would. Not in the way we feel. When it comes to certain decisions like marriage, some of us may be better off letting a wiser older Christian pick a mate for us.

Ouch!

I know, we recoil at the idea of giving up any of our freedoms to choose. But it is much better than relying on feelings or impressions.

And, by the way, my dad picked out another brand of lotion that had a plain version. Problem solved.

Easter is Resonable to Believe

Easter was yesterday. What a celebration we had at church. It was awe-inspiring. We were reminded about the veracity of the resurrection of Christ, along with creative presentations and worship. It is wonderful to be a part of church that celebrates the arts along with strong biblical theology.

The preacher, David Frye, spoke about six reasons the evidence for the resurrection is overwhelming:

1. There were hundreds of eyewitnesses to his fleshly resurrection. (1 Corinthians 15:6; Acts 10:40-41; Luke 24:39; John 20:27)


2. The enemies of Jesus didn't dispute his resurrection. Instead of producing the body of Christ to end all argument, they could only invent excuses. (Matthew 27:62-66; Acts 2:23-24)


3. Jesus' brothers became believers. As family they found it hard to accept Jesus as the Messiah. It was only the resurrection that could explain their conversion. (Mark 6:3; John 7:5; 1 Corinthians 15:1-7; Acts 1:14)


4. Numerous Jewish priests became Christians. The reason this is significant is that it would take something radical like a physical resurrection to convince these men to give up their livelihood, family, and standing in the community. (Acts 6:7)


5. The disciples of Jesus were transformed from understandable cowards to men willing to become martyrs for Christ's sake. It is true that many people die for a lie. But no one dies for what they know to be a lie. They were so convinced that Jesus indeed rose from the dead that they all willingly suffered for this fact. And all but one were martyred, while some were martyred through excruciating torture. (Acts 4:19-20; Acts 12:1-3)


6. The church grew rapidly in a short amount of time. When we see the effects, even today, of the expansion of the church, we must ask what was the cause and was the cause sufficient for the results. The resurrection makes the most sense, especially when you consider that many of the early followers were Jewish people and priests who became Christians — abandoning many of their Jewish practices. And conversions spread rapidly throughout the Roman world — many were formerly Jewish converts, people who believed in the God of the Jews, and people who came from a pagan background. And, I would add, the conversion of Paul, who was an enemy of this Christian movement. (Acts 2:41; Acts 4:4; Acts 6:7; Acts 9:1-19; Acts 9:31)

These may not be enough reasons (nor will there ever be enough reasons) for someone who refuses to believe the resurrection actually happened. But for any person willing to examine the facts and come to a reasonable conclusion these facts are compelling.

Unholy Agreement

The Bible teaches that there is a Lie that Satan promotes, and there is a Truth that Jesus promotes and died for. When we say we preach the gospel it isn't in a vacuum. It isn't dependent on what culture we live in either. However, we must influence culture in this manner: take every thought captive and make it obedient to Christ.

When the apostles preached the gospel it was bracketed within information the culture could understand. Namely that God is real (He exists), He is sovereign (owns it all, including us), and we are culpable to him. Satan says that God is not sovereign (in various forms) and we are the masters of ourselves. All over the world, not just in America, this is the tension that exists — and what the world wants us to value.

The world wants us to make an unholy covenant with it. This covenant is basically, "Don't tell me I am doing anything wrong and I won't accuse you of doing anything wrong." In other words, it's okay for us to spread peace, love, and approving messages, pray in our churches, and be friendly people as long as we keep our mouths shut about the culture. "We will do our thing, and we will leave you alone to do your thing, as long as it doesn't interfere in the affairs of real life."

A dutiful Christian is suppose to accept this covenant and have approved conversations with others about Christ to fulfill his religious duties. The Christian's message is heard as a personal preference of religion. Our hearers are free to accept or reject the religious message because it either serves a utilitarian purpose or not. If someone accepts it, it is kept on a level of personal preference, not universal truth.

Many people become Christians now to simply fulfill some personal desire. I wouldn't say it is necessarily a problem in the beginning, but sometimes people baptize their already held beliefs in the process rather than repent. Thus the statement, "Christianity is a private matter." or "Christians should not get involved in politics," is the sentiment that Christianity is a personal religious choice rather than the truth (the way things really are).

It is true that there are some Christians who believe that our involvement in politics will save America, or recapture the ideal of a Christian nation. Some see our involvement in government as a directive to be saved by our government (create Utopia on earth either through socialism or totalitarianism). Still others just want to leave the business of government to unbelievers, while they just, "Preach the gospel." (This idea about preaching the gospel isn't seen as terribly courageous in hindsight. Just see how history paints the silence of the church during American slavery or during the civil rights era a hundred years later.)

The gospel without engagement is incomplete. The world must understand that it is evil, and needs a gospel. The gospel must be taught in the context of culture. We do this in current day America by using American English rather than Latin or Greek; disobeying the worldly covenant of silence; changing unjust laws whenever we can; trusting God by not fretting over the things we cannot change; giving to the needy without force; and giving God the glory even when others refuse. And for God's sake let's not lose our saltiness!