According to the Bible, the
normal Christian life is a radical one of extreme and wholehearted commitment
to Jesus as Lord. It is about using 24 hours of every day to do the will of God
to the best of our ability, and then doing the same the next day, and so on.
In 2 Corinthians 5:15, for
example, the apostle Paul states:
“And He [Jesus] died for everyone, so that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for the One who died and rose for them.”
The vast majority of people
channel all or almost all of their energy into living for themselves and their
families. In this verse Paul doesn’t just say that Christians should put some
effort into living for Jesus as well as living
for ourselves. He says that we should live for Jesus instead of living for ourselves! This is totally radical.
A simple habit
As we seek to live our
lives for Christ, there is a simple habit that I think it is useful to try to
get into. This is to frequently ask Him, “Lord, what do you want me to do right
now?” and then to listen for His response to the best of our ability.
Most of us probably find
that in many little ways each day we can unconsciously drift away from doing
the will of God. For example, it is very easy to stay chatting to someone
longer than we should. Or we might put off till tomorrow a small task that we
should do today, without really thinking matters through.
I find that if I stop to
ask the Lord what He wants me to do at that point in time, things often come
back into focus and any drifting ceases.
When I ask God this, I
usually take just a few seconds over it. But sometimes I spend a little longer
and pray in this sort of way:
“Lord, this is where I have reached in the course of living my life today. All my previous decisions in the last few hours have brought me to this point. I’m sorry for the bits and pieces that I’ve got wrong during that time. But I want to do Your will better from this point on. So where do you want me to go from here? What do you actually want me to do right now? What is Your absolute highest will for my life at this point in time? Show me and cause me to do it.”
I find prayers like this to be very
useful in helping me to walk in the will of God.
I am not saying that asking
the Lord what He wants me to do next means that I always know the answer. Far
from it. Life in this world, even for devout Christians, contains far too many
uncertainties for that. But I do find that if I stop to ask God what He wants
me to do at that point in the day, some small thing that I am getting wrong
often comes into view and then I can make an adjustment.
Consider doing the same
Because I find this a
helpful practice, I would like to encourage Christians who read this article to
consider doing likewise. I would be surprised if you don’t soon find that it is
good habit to get into.
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