Living God’s Will For Your Life

What’s is God’s will for your life? That’s the million-dollar question we want to know.

What if God came to you tonight and shared in a dream what you would be doing and where you would in the next year? That would be so great to know and have certainty about your future, right? Or would it be terrifying?

It was terrifying for the Apostle Peter. Jesus shares with Peter how his life would go or end. Peter would be martyred. Peter is not happy about that. You wouldn’t be either right? Peter turns his attention toward the other disciples. He asks Jesus if the other disciple, John, would also have the same outcome as him. He wants assurance that he is not the only one that will be martyred. Peter is comparing because he is not happy with his life circumstance.

Don’t we do the same thing as Peter? We may not know how our future will look like. Jesus probably won’t reveal it to us as clearly as he did with Peter. That might be a good thing too. Regardless of knowing our future or not knowing, our attitude may be the same. We may not like it. We may not like our future because if we are honest with ourselves, many of us aren’t happy with our lives today. We look at our current situation and feel unfulfilled. We may hate our jobs or we feel that our relationship is unfulfilling. We may wonder why we aren’t in a relationship. We question why we aren’t more ahead in life or our careers. We feel we don’t have a clear sense of purpose.

This only gets worse when we compare our lives with others. We look at our friends and family’s lives and ask God to give us those same blessings. We compare and wonder why God blessed them with that job, family, marriage, house, or whatnot. We start to wonder when it’s our turn or why our life has not turned out that way. Our prayers may turn to getting those things and feeling that we need them. When we do compare, we start to go down the wrong road. We question God’s sovereignty and goodness. We wonder if God is good. This can lead us to grumble, complain and compare. Comparing produces nothing good.

So what does Jesus say to Peter that is also applicable to us today? 

This was Jesus’ response.

Jesus answered, “If I want him (John) to remain alive until I return, what is that to you? You (Peter) must follow me.” 

Jesus rebukes Peter and says to focus on Jesus. It does not matter what will happen to John. Peter needs to focus on only Jesus. That’s true for us today. We need to focus not on our friends, neighbors, and coworkers. Do not look at what they have going for them. Our focus needs on ourselves and on our relationship with Jesus. It is about following Jesus in our current season of life. Jesus wants you to obey him today with our family, friends, job, and community.

What does that even mean to follow Jesus? Here are three ways that following Jesus may look like today.

1. Look to where Jesus is in every moment

Where are your eyes physically focused on? What you see is what you want. Your eyes show where your heart is. If your eyes are focused on social media posts, paycheck, apps, and websites, then your heart is in those places too. Your eyes show where your heart is. Fix your eyes on Jesus as it says in Hebrews 12:2.

 fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer, and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him, he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

Hebrews 12:2

This may mean limiting your social media time or saying no to certain apps or financial websites. It may mean not checking the news or stock market. It may mean using that time to look at Jesus by reading your Bible more. When you do this when you’ll be able to see where Jesus is showing up in your family, your workplace, and your community. You’ll see things and people in a whole new way. If you are not looking for it then you can miss Jesus in those moments. 

2. Serve like Jesus 

If you are going to compare your life to anyone then compare it to Jesus’ life. He was perfect so why measure your life to anyone less than that. Jesus’ life was marked by sacrifice, service, and love. He shared that he came to serve and not be served. 

just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

Matthew 20:28

Where can you serve and help someone today? When you serve someone else, you take the focus away from yourself and put it to someone else. You can contribute something positive to your day. It could be a simple text message of affirmation to someone or giving your time and energy to help a friend or stranger. There are several ways that you can do something for someone today. You will feel better and be better for it. 

3. Say Thank you 

The language of knowing and discovering God’s will is saying, “Thank you.” 

1 Thessalonians 5:18 says: give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.

A grateful heart turns our limited perspective to God’s unlimited perspective. We can see God’s fingerprints even in the most painful and difficult moments. It does not mean that our problems go away but it gives us the ability to trust that God is good and in control. It gives us the strength to see the good in all situations. God can show up powerfully when we are grateful. It shifts the focus from “I can’t” to “God can.”

Jesus is not concerned about our future as much as we are. We want to know the future. We want certainty. Jesus is okay with ambiguity because it means that we need to trust Him in the here and now. Jesus cares more about the present. He is more concerned about who you are following today. If you are following Jesus today then you’ll be in God’s will tomorrow. You can bank on that. If you are following someone or something else then you won’t have the future you want. That should be your biggest concern.