Understand
the will of the Lord
17 Therefore do not be foolish, but understand
what the will of the Lord is. (Ephesians 5:17)
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. once said,
“it does not matter how long you live, but how well you do it.” In Ephesians
5:15-17, Paul teaches us how to live life well. In verse 17 Paul exhorts all
believers to not be foolish. The word foolish translated means, senseless or
stupid. The bible makes it easy for us to identify if we are being foolish or
senseless when we it said in Psalm 53:1, “The fool says in his heart, “There is
no God.” In relation to this passage some may think, “I know a lot of smart
people who say there is no God. People with a lot of letters after their
names.” Yup! But as I’ve heard some of
the old timers call people like that, those people are educated fools. The
bible calls those who say there is no God foolish, because they live their life
as if God isn’t present. They live as if God doesn’t care. They live as if God
isn’t worthy of their devotion. They are living like fools.
Paul urges the Christian to live life noticeably
different from the fool. If the fool lives like God doesn’t exist, believers
are to live as those who know God does exist and “he rewards those who seek Him”
(Hebrews 11:6). A problem facing many professing ‘believers’ today is that they
live like practical atheist. Meaning, they say all the right things about God,
but their walk doesn’t match their talk. Which in essence makes them fools,
according to Paul’s line of reasoning.
So,
how do we avoid living like fools? By understanding what the will of the Lord
is. Nothing is more important in life than to understand and
apply the will of God. However, it’s
important that we distinguish between what theologian John Stott calls God’s
‘general’ and his ‘particular’ will.
God’s general will is found in Scripture. For
example, 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18, “Rejoice always, pray
without ceasing, give thanks in all
circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.” It’s God’s will for ALL believers to rejoice
always, pray without ceasing, and to give thanks in all circumstances.
On
the other hand, God’s particular will for our lives will not be found in
scripture in black and white. The bible doesn’t tell us the exact person you
are to marry or the vocation you are to choose. However, we can find biblical
principles to help guide us when scripture isn’t clear about what we should do.
For example, Jesus taught us to, “…love
the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your
mind” (Matthew 22:37). So, a great question to
discern God’s particular will in a matter would be, is what I’m thinking about
doing honor God? I’m confident of this; we will discover the particular will of
God for our lives in the process of living out the general will of God.
Today is day two of our week of prayer
and fasting as a church. Our theme for 2019 is, “Don’t Waste Your Life.” We are
asking the Lord to help us not waste the precious gift of life. For this not to happen it’s essential that we
study the Bible to understand
what the will of the Lord is and we walk out in wisdom what we learn from our
time in the word. May our walk match our talk in 2019 and beyond.
Prayer Points:
·
Pray for wisdom, ask God to give you
understanding, so that you know where God wants you to spend your time,
talents, and treasure.
·
Pray for the strength to continue to
fast.
·
Pray for your heart to grow more
tender to the things of God.
Grace and peace to you,
Pastor Lucas Rivera
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