The Weekly Epistle 3/3/21

I know God’s will for your life.  That’s right, I know God’s will for your life.  Isn’t that a load off your mind?  What is it?  It tells us in 1 Thessalonians 4:3, “It is God’s will that you should be sanctified.”  You might be thinking, “Well, that is a big letdown!”  
 
But this is indeed great news.  It can free you up from all the other issues surrounding the will of God.  It is the genius of the gospel played out in your life.  God wills for you to be sanctified.  Sanctified is a big word that means, “set apart and to be put to proper use.”  The thought is that something is set apart for its intended purposes.  Our intended purpose is to bring glory to God as He works out in us the image of Christ.  
 
We know where God is going.  He is working in our lives in such a way that is moving us toward greater Christlikeness (see Romans 8:29).  How?  We don’t really need to know that.  And that is freeing!  Trusting in God to carry out His will in our lives is liberating.  The pressure is off!
 
We won’t know why God allows certain things to happen in our lives.  We will not fully see this until the curtain is closed upon history.  But we can be certain of God’s care in every situation of life and if it is His will to sanctify us, He will accomplish that!  What is our part?  Respond in faith.  Faith is always God’s will for me.  Faith is my responsibility!  
 
Since it is God’s will to sanctify us then that means he is in control of the outcome of our choices.  That is not saying He is in control of our choices, but the outcome of those choices.  God can use anything He chooses to accomplish His goal of conforming us to the image of His Son.  
 
How does this fit into knowing the will of God for basic life decisions?  At the risk of oversimplifying it, here is the rule of thumb to follow.  Follow the will of God in personal sanctification trusting that God will use the choices you make to accomplish His purposes in you.  That is not to say, God doesn’t want to be involved in your decisions.  That is not to say that God does not concern Himself in areas of personal guidance in your life.  He does!  But His main agenda is transformation.  His will for your life is that you are sanctified, set apart for His intended purposes for you to be more like Christ today than you were last year.  
 
As John Newton so aptly put it, “I am not what I might be, I am not what I ought to be, I am not what I wish to be, I am not what I hope to be.  But thank God I am not what I once was.”  
 
Yes!  We are a work in progress.  I need to patient with you.  And I ask you to do the same for me and for each other.  And together we show the world the difference the gospel has made in our lives!  “We have this treasure (gospel) in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us” (2 Corinthians 4:7).  
 
Blessings, Pastor Brian