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“I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.” (Romans 12:1-2, ESV)

Pastor Abel’s sermon on this passage is titled, “What’s God’s Will For My Life?”

When studying what the Scripture says about God’s will, it doesn’t take long before you begin to notice something that could at first be confusing. That is, the Bible can talk about God’s will in different ways.

For example, Exodus 20:13 says, “You shall not murder.” This is a direct command from God to his people. Therefore, murder is not God’s will. If you commit murder, that is the opposite of what God wants!

However, consider what it says in Acts 4:27-28, “…for truly in this city there were gathered together against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel, to do whatever your hand and your plan had predestined to take place.”

This verse is saying that the murder of Jesus, murder which is not God’s will, was predestined by God to occur through the hands of the Romans and the Jews. Notice the words ‘hand’ and ‘plan.’ These words communicate that God’s plan was for Christ to be murdered all along, and not only that, but he brought it to pass with his hand.

When taken together, these two passages can present a challenge. If God’s does not will murder, then how could he will it to come to pass in the case of Jesus?

The answer, it turns out, is that the ‘will of God’ has many facets. For example, God has a will of command where he commands us to do what is right and to not do what is wrong (as in “you shall not murder.”) But God also has a will of decree where he decrees everything to happen according to his great and wise plan, including the death of his own son on the cross.

 

Further Study

 

Questions

  • How are we to discern what God’s will is for our lives?
  • Describe a time in your life where you sought God’s will. How did you determine what God wanted for you?
  • Why is it important to not trust in our own feelings when trying to determine God’s will?
  • What role does scripture play in revealing what God wants for us?
  • How can we test our actions and motivations to see if we are in God’s will?