God's Will

I’ve been looking at various promises of God listed on something I found on the internet. There’s a promise for each day of the year and a Scripture reference that goes with it. One day this week the promise read, “The world and its passions will disappear, but those who do My will shall live forever.” This promise is based on 1 John 2:17 which says, “The world and its desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever.”

So God’s promised eternal life to those who do His will. That made me question what does Scripture say His will is, so I looked up the phrase “will of God” on the internet to find as many references to the will of God as I could. Mostly I was questioning whether or not I was doing the will of God as that could directly effect my eternal status according to this passage. That’s something I worry about from time to time and right now in my life is one of those times.

I was surprised to find only four passages that directly say, “the will of God.” I figured that was a good thing for me, for surely I can do four things right and be doing the will of God. These four verses demonstrate three doable things for me to be doing and one marvelous thing that God has already done as part of His will. See if you can tell which is which.

John 6:40 recaps something Jesus said about the will of His Father (i.e. God): “For my Father’s will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day.” In this verse and the preceding passage, Jesus tells us that God’s will is for Jesus to do God’s will and that He should lose none of all that He has given to Jesus and raise up those He’s been given on the last day. The will of God is that everyone be saved through Jesus. That has nothing to do with me other than I need to “look to the Son and believe in Him,” and thus earn eternal life. That’s pretty easy. It’s something I did once a long time ago (37 years ago) and that I renew on a daily basis just to remind myself of this truth.

1 Thessalonians 4:3 says, “It is God’s will that you should be sanctified; that you should avoid sexual immorality;” For those who have done the first step (John 6:40), the sanctification issue is already settled. We have been set apart by God to follow Him. The second part is one of only two direct “commands” I can follow to make sure I am doing the will of God. I can avoid sexual immorality. Granted this is easier now that I am married, but it still means paying attention to what I allow into my mind through television, dirty jokes, conversation and so forth. I can do that bit of the will of God.

1 Thessalonians 5:18 gives another example of something I can directly do: “give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.” So if I want to do the will of God, I will practice giving thanks in every situation I am in. I can do that, although I need a lot of practice to become regular at doing this. I also need reminders from other people in my life.

1 Peter 2:15 gives another way we can do God’s will: “For it is God’s will that by doing good you should silence the ignorant talk of foolish men.” Do good. That seems like a reasonable request on God’s part, a request we should stringently adhere to because it silences those who speak against us and who are foolish in general. I try to do good. Sometimes I’m more successful than other times, but my intent is to always be doing good for God’s sake (and because it’s His will for me).

To summarize, God’s will is that everyone have eternal life through His Son, Jesus Christ, that we be sanctified and avoid sexual immorality, that we give thanks in every circumstance, and that we do good. All these things are things I can do, because the Holy Spirit is within me and gives me God’s power to do them.