On the first day of school, you walk onto the campus viewing every moment as an opportunity to follow God's will. What would your day look like if you believed that God's will consumed every single second of your life? The problem for most of us is that we like to compartmentalize our life into categories: "God moments" and "worldly moments". We can understand that God would have a purpose for what our career should be, but what about "how we work"? We pray that God will show us what college to go to, but he has no place telling us how to study or handle our education. God wants us to love people, but he doesn't care who I hang out with. The truth is, God's will consumed the life of Jesus, and if we are to live like Jesus it should envelope our lives as well.
The absurd thing is that we often believe that we might understand our situation more clearly then God. Sometimes we're even arrogant enough to believe that we know BETTER than God! However, if we believe that the Bible is correct, when it states that God is the Creator, then why can't we believe he might know how His creation should work? If I create something, I have a specific purpose for it, and so does God.
We discovered on Sunday, that Jesus' beliefs ("every moment is sacred", "when there's a need I'll meet it", and "when moments are interrupted, I'll look for God's will") influenced his decisions to the point that the search for God's will consumed his life. So, why can't we do this? Put simply, I believe two things hinder our obedience to God's will: our selfish desires and our lack of trust. Although, everyone can understand how selfishness gets in the way, you might be asking "how does trust come into play?” When we search for our own answers or ignore God's callings, it is often attributed to our lack of trust in God. We cannot trust that God's love or what Jesus did on the cross, could ever outweigh the cost of whatever sacrifice we would have to make in order to follow God's will.
The truth is, if we're ever going to allow God's will to permeate our life we first have to let go of our selfish desires, and begin to trust in the love of God shown through Christ Jesus. I know, "easier said than done", but I believe the first way of trusting in what Jesus did, is understanding the impact of the cross. We often believe that the cross only affects our salvation. Even though salvation was the ultimate goal of Jesus' sacrifice on the cross, it also serves as a perfect example of the love that God has for us. A love that is so powerful that it can satisfy you over any friendship, over any heartbreak, and over any rejection. We often feel that if we follow God's will, we might be rejected or it might be socially awkward. The fear that we will be left alone or scorned causes us to ignore God's will, but we can trust that God's love is enough to satisfy us through every situation. So, what if you truly believed that you had a love so strong that you could step outside of yourself and truly follow God's will unashamed and unhindered?
Explore
Read Mark 2:23-3:6, examples of Jesus' mindset that "every moment is sacred".
Pray
That you can begin to look for God's will in all moments, and that God can provide you the courage to meet the needs of those in your life.
Discuss
What habits can we put in place to assist us in hearing or seeing God's will in our lives?
Explore the HYPE
There is often a lot of "hype" that surrounds the subject of Jesus Christ. Questions like "did he really exist?", "did he really rise from the dead?", and "is he truly the Son of God?". Community Christian Church's youth group, Hype, is full of middle and high school students dedicated to reaching fellow students who are unconnected to Jesus, and together growing to full devotion to Him by exploring beyond the "hype" surrounding the extraordinary life of their Savior.
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