Life is Not a Gameshow
"And so, from the day we heard, we have not ceased to pray for you, asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him: bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God;" - Colossians 1:9-10
"Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect." - Romans 12:2
"Let's see what's behind door number one!" The thinking of that line from the classic gameshow, "Let's Make A Deal", unfortunately colors our view of scriptures like the ones we read above. Why is that, you say? Well perhaps the number one question asked to pastors, Christian leaders, and teachers of the Bible is this: "How do I know what God's will is for this situation?" Then we read scriptures like Colossians 1 or Romans 12, and we get the idea that if we are only spiritual enough, we will have a special discerning power by which we will be able to determine God's will at every fork in the road of life. While it is tempting to think that way, and while it certainly would be convenient to have that kind of supernatural discernment, that simply is not the case.
The problem, on the other hand, is when we are faced with two or three choices that seem equally valid, when the pros and cons stack up equitably. If we don't make the right choice, are we are going to miss out on God's "perfect will" for our lives? We are faced with the existential grief of making the wrong choice, opening the wrong door, and being rewarded with a "second rate" blessing rather than the grand prize that we would have received if we had just been spiritual enough to discern God's "perfect will." This kind of thinking leads us to view our lives through a "what if I had only done this in stead of that" lens. I would propose that that is an exercise in missing the point, and also an unprofitable way of life in general.
So what about God's will? If it is not like choosing between secret doors in a gameshow, then what is it? Now it goes without saying that one aspect of God's will is what He does and allows by His own freedom. For instance, it was the will of God to crush Jesus Christ (Isa. 53:10). He did that "to do whatever your hand and your plan had predestined to take place." (Acts 4:28) Sometimes, it is God's will to bring and/or allow incredibly hard things in our lives for his purposes, like when Peter says "it is better to suffer for doing good, if that should be God's will, than for doing evil." (I Peter 3:17) After all, it goes without saying that God is the only being who is truly free, in the sense that His choices are not hemmed in by circumstance, bias, lack of ability, or lack of understanding. That's why Paul can speak about "the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will." (Ephesians 1:11) This aspect of God's will is what Christ fell back on when he prayed before His crucifixion, "nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will." (Matt. 26:39) There is a sense in many cases in life that God's will is for us to "let God be God." That is wonderfully liberating, because in almost all those cases, we most certainly would make the wrong decision if it were up to us.
But there is also the aspect of God's will where He describes the things that He desires, the things that He prescribes, the things that He lays out before us and shows us His heart. This is the aspect of God's will that we interact with. What are some examples of this? To name a few, "give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you." (1 Thessalonians 5:17) "For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you abstain from sexual immorality;" (1 Thessalonians 4:3). " Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is. Do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit," (Ephesians 5:17-18) So God's will is that we give thanks in all circumstances, that we be sanctified and abstain from sexual immorality, and that we won't be drunk with wine but filled with the Spirit. Simple, right? What do these examples teach us? What God has said in scripture is connected to His being. What he desires for us is not separate from His holiness and character. Whatever He tells us explicitly to do or not to do in scripture, in a sense, is the will of God.
I would argue that it is this second aspect of God's will that Paul is getting at in both Colossians 1 and Romans 12. In both of those scriptures, understanding the will of God is tied to "knowledge" or "the mind." Our mind needs to be renewed. It needs to be filled. How are our minds renewed? How do we acquire the "spiritual wisdom and understanding" that Paul talks about in Colossians 1? How can we possibly find the knowledge that God would want us to have? If we're not careful, we can make this a mystical process. But what about everything He has revealed? Let's think specifically about Paul's words in Romans 12, and consider this:
The one who is conformed to the world has their mind saturated with earthly wisdom, earthly understanding, and earthly knowledge. He thinks according to these parameters, so therefore, when it is time to make a decision or action, he decides and acts like a child of the world, walking in the flesh.
On the contrary:
The one who is transformed by the renewing of his mind has his mind saturated with scriptural wisdom, scriptural understanding, and scriptural knowledge. He has the scripture illuminated to him by the Holy Spirit. He thinks according to the explicit statements and principles of scripture, therefore when it is time to make a decision or action, he decides and acts like a child of God, walking in the Spirit.
How many things has God clearly outlined in His word for us to understand this life? How many prescriptions has He given us, how many clear injunctions has He given us, how many examples has He given us? Is it really possible that we have worked through all those, we have them all nailed down, and now we are ready to move beyond those things to some sort of "next level" knowledge of God's will?
If I can make a suggestion, which I have found true in my life and true in the lives of others as well, it is this. When we ask the question, "how can I know God's will in this situation?" We're not really asking what God would have us do, we're wanting to know if something is going to work out positively. We treat God's will like the doors on "let's make a deal" and we want to know, "if I choose door number 2, am I going to have a successful marriage, a profitable career, well-behaved children, and a happy retirement?" We want to know, "If I choose this college over that college, am I going to miss out on God's perfect will?" "If I take this job in stead of that job, am I going to be unsatisfied and unsuccessful?" "If I buy this house rather than that house, is my home going to be cursed because I missed God's perfect house for me?" To be blunt, that kind of thinking is more in keeping with fortune telling and genie-in-a-bottle worldview than it is Christian Theology.
If we want to know God’s will, we should saturate our knowledge with God’s Word. If we want to know what God desires, we must fill our minds with what He has said. Whether or not it is God’s plan for us to be a millionaire one day is entirely immaterial if we are not concerned with God’s desire for us to be obedient to Him in all things right now. And what if I told you that when faced with two good choices, two seemingly equal opportunities, two situations in which the pros and cons are comparable, that the right decision is probably not a question of destiny, but a beautiful opportunity to apply the wisdom that we have gained as we walk in the Spirit? Here is the principle. We live our lives based on God’s will as revealed in scripture and illuminated by the Spirit. When we come to a decision like this, God has chosen not to write in the sky the name of our future spouse or future job or future college or future address. He has rather chosen to allow us to make real decisions based on the explicit statements and principles in His Word.
"But what if I make the wrong choice?" Look at it this way: what if in certain things, there is no wrong choice? What if God brings us certain areas in life where our decision making reflects some of the joy and wonder of His freedom and creativity? This is why you can drive a red sedan and I can drive a white pickup truck and neither one of us has incurred the wrath of God for doing so. This is why you can wear blue jeans one day and shorts the next day and not have those decisions followed by existential dread. Now, those are silly examples. But this is also why you can move your family to Florida if it seems like a good opportunity, and someone else can stay and live where they grew up, and neither person is "outside of God's perfect will."
At the end of the day, there are plenty of opportunities for us to mess up. There are plenty of opportunities for us to clearly go against what God has revealed in His Word. There are plenty of opportunities for us to break God's commandments, to sin against Him, to be in the wrong; so let's not invent more. Stop turning life decisions into moral dilemmas. Stop viewing seemingly equal choices as if God is behind door number one, and the the certain ruin and destruction of your life is behind door number two. Stop hyper-spiritualizing and overanalyzing things where God may very well be giving you an opportunity to make a joyful decision rather than a dreadful one. God is not out to get you, to trick you into missing His "perfect will." He has revealed His perfect will in scripture, and we are indwelt with the Holy Spirit in order to live according to that revelation. But in those areas which are not explicitly dealt with in His word; trust Him, use the wisdom that He has given you, and then enjoy the ride and see beauty in the freedom God has entrusted you with.
With Love,
Pastor Aaron Frost
March 5, 2021
