1 Thessalonians 4:3 “This
is the will of God, your sanctification”
Seeking
God’s holy will in our lives and the specific details daily is a priority of
every child of God. How to go about it hunting for and finding it is a virtuous
and rewarding pursuit. I read that though Paul was an Apostle, he did not have
automatic insight into all of the plans of God and His will in each specific
situation. Life presents us with many opportunities for trying to discern God’s
will for us. We face many situations in which we must make a choice between two
good options, and we are unsure which one is what the Lord has willed for us.
This is especially difficult when neither option seems to be more advantageous
than the other. At such times, we often ask God to intervene in a special way
to show us the way forward. Most of us, of course, can think of times when the
Lord seemed to give us special aid. One of the good opportunities might
inexplicably vanish. Maybe we get an unexpected phone call from a friend and
the conversation turns out to have bearing on the matter even if we never
mention it. Still, even though such things may happen, they are extraordinary.
The Lord does not ordinarily guide our decision-making in such ways. We need to
know how to make God-pleasing decisions when no special providence is
forthcoming, and we need to know how to distinguish what seems to be
providential direction from our own imagination.
The
first place to turn when we must make a choice is our Creator’s wisdom in
Scripture. His Word says that above all, His will for us is our sanctification. The
1828 Webster’s dictionary defines the word “Sanctification” as: The act of making holy. In an evangelical
sense, the act of God's grace by which the affections of men are purified or
alienated from sin and the world, and exalted to a supreme love to God. The act
of consecrating or of setting apart for a sacred purpose; consecration.
Thus, anything that works against our personal holiness is to be rejected. If
we are fretting about God’s will for us in a particular situation and one of the
options available is ungodly, we may fret no longer. We are never allowed to
disobey our Creator’s revealed standards, and if one of our options would require
us to do that, we must immediately choose otherwise. The Lord’s will for us is
our sanctification, so we must study Scripture diligently in order to know His
will and to understand what the holiness He demands looks like.
Blessings
in God’s Will
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