I'm assuming that if you're reading my blog it's safe to say that you are a believer in Christ who loves God and has a heart for God. Of course we're all at various levels in our relationship with Him but within each of us is a love for God and a heart that desires to submit to His will and want what He wants. But here's a very experiential question that I've asked myself many times before:
If I love God and my heart is for Him, why do I always find myself making decisions apart from Him?
If I love God and my heart is for Him, why do I always find myself making decisions apart from Him?
I'm not going to get into the doctrine regarding the fall of man or Satan's nature corrupting man because that's not the focus of this post. I'd like to point out another culprit that's much simpler and perhaps more common in our daily experience:
We lack the consciousness of God in our everyday lives.
As Christians, we've embarked on a life-long journey which is also a life-long relationship with another person—Jesus Christ. We used to be "single," doing our own thing, caring only for ourselves. Now we're "married," having another Person with us all...the...time. It's understandable that we often forget about this other Person in the busyness of our daily lives.
As one who recently got married, I'm acutely aware of the difficulties of such a transition. Before making the most wonderful commitment of my life, decision-making was a vastly different experience—the process included two criteria: 1) my schedule and 2) my feelings. Now that I've entered into this life-long relationship with my wife, two more criteria (arguably with more weight than the first two) have been added to the decision-making process: 1) her schedule and 2) her feelings. Now whenever I consider having students over or consider spending an evening out of the house I am learning to have the consciousness or awareness of my wife and that I cannot make decisions hastily by myself or for myself. Doing so would be inconsiderate and could even cause problems between my wife and me. Often times it's not even that she feels one way or the other, but it's simply the act of being considerate towards her and being open to her feeling that maintains the sweetness and oneness of our marriage relationship.
This illustration highlights a principle that applies to our relationship with the Lord, who is our real Husband (Isaiah 54:5). Don't forget about Him! Consult Him and be open to His feeling in everything, not only in the big decisions but even in the small, trivial ones. This will also maintain a proper, healthy relationship with God.
We're told in Romans 11:36 that "Out from Him and through Him and to Him are all things..." Is this true in our lives? Do all the decisions we make have Him as their source? Do the decisions we make pass through Him? Is He the goal or result of our decisions? Few, if any of us, could answer, "yes." But my point is that the problem may not be due to a lack of willingness or desire; the shortcoming may be due to a lack of being conscious of the Lord, or a lack of turning to ask:
"Lord, what do You think?" or
"How do You feel about this?"
The solution is often as simple as asking.
We lack the consciousness of God in our everyday lives.
As Christians, we've embarked on a life-long journey which is also a life-long relationship with another person—Jesus Christ. We used to be "single," doing our own thing, caring only for ourselves. Now we're "married," having another Person with us all...the...time. It's understandable that we often forget about this other Person in the busyness of our daily lives.
As one who recently got married, I'm acutely aware of the difficulties of such a transition. Before making the most wonderful commitment of my life, decision-making was a vastly different experience—the process included two criteria: 1) my schedule and 2) my feelings. Now that I've entered into this life-long relationship with my wife, two more criteria (arguably with more weight than the first two) have been added to the decision-making process: 1) her schedule and 2) her feelings. Now whenever I consider having students over or consider spending an evening out of the house I am learning to have the consciousness or awareness of my wife and that I cannot make decisions hastily by myself or for myself. Doing so would be inconsiderate and could even cause problems between my wife and me. Often times it's not even that she feels one way or the other, but it's simply the act of being considerate towards her and being open to her feeling that maintains the sweetness and oneness of our marriage relationship.
This illustration highlights a principle that applies to our relationship with the Lord, who is our real Husband (Isaiah 54:5). Don't forget about Him! Consult Him and be open to His feeling in everything, not only in the big decisions but even in the small, trivial ones. This will also maintain a proper, healthy relationship with God.
We're told in Romans 11:36 that "Out from Him and through Him and to Him are all things..." Is this true in our lives? Do all the decisions we make have Him as their source? Do the decisions we make pass through Him? Is He the goal or result of our decisions? Few, if any of us, could answer, "yes." But my point is that the problem may not be due to a lack of willingness or desire; the shortcoming may be due to a lack of being conscious of the Lord, or a lack of turning to ask:
"Lord, what do You think?" or
"How do You feel about this?"
The solution is often as simple as asking.