Sunday, May 11, 2008

God's Will and Western Romanticism

For many Christians the idea of following God's will is a tricky and often daunting situation.  We often worry so much if what we are doing falls into God's will or whether we are walking along a downward path.  The truth is we need to just focus on serving God where we are at now.

Jesus says in the Sermon on the Mount, "Do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about you body, what you will wear....For the pagans run after these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them.  But seek first his kingdom and righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.  Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own."  

Although worrying about food, water, clothes, and other basic necessities is different from worrying about doing God's will, there is still a substantial lesson in that.  If the very essential things for our very survival are trivial in God's eyes, then ought not every non-life-threatening item we worry so often about be even more trivial.  

However, the idea of "do not worry about tomorrow," can also apply to God's will.  Instead of worrying, we are commanded to seek first his kingdom and righteousness.   The best use of the now is to seek His kingdom, instead of worrying about how we should seek his kingdom in our next steps in life.  Whether or not it was God's will that you are in a given situation is irrelevant, but how you will react to your given situation is very relevant.  

The whole realm of God's will in a romantic relationship is probably the biggest stress for any person.  Our movies and sappy love stories preach this idea that there is "The One" for you waiting somewhere.  Apologies for lack of a better term, but this is bullshit.  This is probably the leading cause of divorce among many individuals even "Christian" couples.  It also part of the cause for the fact that the leading cause of depression among single adults is from being single, and for married adults is from being married.  The only reference to there being one person that is ever mentioned in the Bible is in reference to marriage.  "What God has joined together, let man not separate."  So for whatever reason that two individuals marry, that person is the one for you.  

This applies to the point that if two strong Christian individuals of each distinct gender, then a marriage ought to work with this mindset.  The question just comes down to how much each of those two people want to sacrifice to make their relationship work.  

The moral of this long-winded rant: In whatever situation you have be placed, seek to glorify God, by seeking his kingdom and righteousness, whether single or married, poor or wealthy, college student or teaching pastor; glorify God.  Each situation has its own advantages and unique impact.