This evening, we looked again at the subject of living according to God’s will, highlighting four areas which the Bible explicitly teaches us are God’s will for His people:
- The need to love unconditionally (see John 13:34-35, 1 John 3:1-2, 16-18). We love because God first loved us, but this love needs to be practical (see also Matt 25:40). No matter what our love language, we must learn to love not only our friends, family and other believers but even our enemies (Matt 5:44-45)
- The need to forgive freely (Matt 6:12-15) – even if this means repeatedly forgiving! (see Matt 18:21-35). Again, our forgiveness flows from the fact that God has forgiven us (Col 3:13, Eph 4:32). It does not mean we pretend nothing bad has happened or condone sin, but we leave God to sort out the judgment and punishment and build bridges, becoming peacemakers.
- The need to be holy (1 Thess 4:3-6, 1 Pet 1:15-16). This includes sexual purity (see 1 Cor 6:18-20) and means finding out what pleases God so that we can refuse to conform to the world’s standards. (1 Pet 1:14)
- The need to do good (1 Pet 2:15, Eph 2:10) so that others can see God’s light.
It can be hard to discover God’s personal will for our lives, but as always, we need to listen for the voice of the good Shepherd and know that He will direct us (Is 30:21) As we delight ourselves in the Lord, He will give us the desires of our hearts and lead us in right paths.
