Finding Your Purpose in God's Will

"For this is the will of God, your sanctification..." - 1 Thess. 4.3

“Therefore let those who suffer according to the will of God commit their souls to Him..." - 1 Peter 4.19

Knowledge of God’s will is something men have made claims toward for thousands of years. Religions have been forged and factions formed by those who claim to possess it. It is a subject over which wars have been fought, and are being fought still. But perhaps the apostle Paul gives us the greatest insight into unlocking what this ‘mysterious’ will of God truly is: “Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is – his good, pleasing and perfect will” (Rom. 12.2).

To know and do God’s will one must first and foremost surrender one’s own will. This surrender is not passive, but active: do not be conformed…but be transformed. One must actively resist conformity to “the pattern of this world,” turning away from or breaking out of the natural or inherited mold. At the same time, one must actively pursue the kind of transformation which – by the Holy Spirit’s power – leads to the state of having a “renewed mind.” We do this by immersing ourselves in the Scriptures and always seeking to interpret our circumstances through the lenses of biblical truth.

God’s will is rarely something concrete and easily defined. It must, in the host of situations which each of us face over the course of a lifetime, be “test[ed] and approve[d]” over and against the parameters (i.e. biblical commands) outlined in Scripture.

The question is here raised: How did Christ exemplify this process while walking the earth? Scripture tells us bluntly: “…Christ also suffered for you, leaving an example for you to follow in His steps, who committed no sin, nor was any deceit found in His mouth; …while suffering, he uttered no threats, but kept entrusting Himself to Him who judges righteously” (1 Peter 2.23).

Christ submitted to God’s authority by following His thread, the thread that led Him to the Cross. He did not seek new and better circumstances for Himself. As His the narrative of His life so clearly proves, His life was not His own; His destiny - a word which for most Americans is impregnated with false notions - was not His to create. As He submitted, He suffered; but rather than resist such suffering, or give way to fear, He entrusted Himself to the God who judges righteously.

This is the will of God in the life of His saints – not that we pursue suffering, nor rejoice in it for its own sake; but that when He brings it into our lives, we make it our aim to suffer like Him. "...[Y]ou were called for this very purpose, that you may inherit a blessing" (1 Peter 3.9).