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For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men, instructing us to deny ungodliness and worldly desires and to live sensibly, righteously and godly in the present age, looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus; who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for Himself a people for His own possession, zealous for good deeds.
(Titus 2:11-14)
Prior to our coming to know Christ, all of our time is invested in ourselves, our interests, our needs, and our desires. The time we have available is treated as being ours alone to do what we want or have to do. It can be upsetting or aggravating when someone or something intrudes on our time. Time is viewed as a limited resource, so when someone asks for our time, we decide whether or not they are worth our time. Clearly, we are self-centered, driven by our own desires and interests. We have no knowledge of God, no interest in Christ, and do not walk in the Holy Spirit. Thus, we have no other choice in how we view time than through the lens of self. What is more, we see this as a problem. Though we see ourselves as the master of our time, the reality is that we are not. Actually we are serving the cravings and desires we have deep inside and pursuing those things which the world claims will make us happy. We spend our time building our career and acquiring possessions. The time God has given us, we use to fulfill the lusts of our flesh (Ephesians 2:1-3). Like Eve in the garden of Eden, we are enticed by that which appears to be good for food, pleasing to our eyes, and which we think will bring us happiness and wisdom (Genesis 3:6). Some of us go after things that seem exciting at first, only to find ourselves trapped in an addiction, bound to something that is destroying us. We spend our God given time going after false advertisements and empty promises, hoping that somewhere along the way we will find something or someone worth our effort. The bad news is that many people die trying. Living the self-willed life, we are far from God, lost in lies and deceptions.
Those who will travel the path to maturity in Christ discover that God does not desire that any would parish, but for all to come to repentance (II Peter 3:9). God's will for all of us who are living a self-willed life is to hear the gospel of Jesus Christ and be transformed. To everyone bound in sin, God's message of salvation and hope points us to Christ (Luke 5:32). We may think we discovered Christ and his message, but instead it was Christ who came to seek and save us (Luke 19:10). Everyone who takes that first step towards Christ and maturity in Christ, must hear God's call (John 15:16), for He calls people to Himself (Matthew 11:28). When the message comes to us, our response shows whether or not we are fallowed ground (Matthew 13:3-9; Matthew 13:18-23). How long it takes for the seed to take root in us differs from one person to the next, but fallowed ground is indicative of those who stop and listen and then act upon what it said. We might be drawn to Christ as we pause for just a few seconds while flipping through stations on the TV or radio and are captivated by what we hear about him. Perhaps we spend a few minutes talking with a friend or family member, which changes the direction of our life. Maybe while watching a movie or reading a book we are confronted with the message of Christ. It is likely that it a lot took more time for us to hear and respond to his invitation to follow him than we realize. For some it took weeks or months. Others required years. But slowly, as the call to follow Christ was sown and watered it began to grow in us. At first the growth was beneath the soil with no visible evidence of the seed haven taken root. But slowly the truth of God's gospel works in us as we hear it time and again. Growth happens in those moments when we pause to ponder what we are hearing. It happens in situations when we are frustrated by what we are doing, feeling convicted that something has to change in us. It develops as we consider our choices in light of the message of Christ and adjust to what he says to do. As we respond to the call to follow Jesus we spend time looking at Jesus and wondering who he is (John 1:36-38; John 1:46). Though we do not yet realize it, we are being invited to follow him; to enter into a relationship with the creator God through Jesus Christ our Savior and Lord. Finally we submit to the call, we surrender. We believe the message that says God desires to reign in the hearts and minds of human beings and follow Jesus (John 6:68).
Once we are in Christ (I Corinthians 1:30; Romans 8:31) and Christ is in us (Colossians 1:27; Colossians 3:11), we intentionally seek to grow and mature. Growth is God's will for His creation (Genesis 1:22-28; Genesis 8:17; Genesis 9:1-7). As we invest more time growing in our knowledge and love of God (Philippians 1:9), we make more discoveries. Discoveries that while new to us are truths that have been passed on through the ages from one disciple to the next. One of our key discoveries is that God has a will for His creation (Matthew 26:42). All that exists, both the seen and the unseen, exists because God has willed it to exist. God Himself said that what He had created was good (Genesis 1:4; Genesis 1:10; Genesis 1:12; Genesis 1:18; Genesis 1:21; Genesis 1:25), even very good (Genesis 1:31). From the beginning, God's will has been for human beings to have a relationship with Him (Genesis 3:8-9). God created us to receive the expressions of His love and to love Him in return (Deuteronomy 6:5; Deuteronomy 10:12; Deuteronomy 11:13; Deuteronomy 13:2; Deuteronomy 30:6; Joshua 22:5; Matthew 22:37). As we are told, it was not long before we were seduced to deny God (Genesis 3:1-5) and love ourselves more than God. Even so, God continued to express His love for His creation by making known His will and calling humanity to repent and return to Him. God's will is that His creation would continue to exist. As we grow in Christ we spend time discovering the story of God's contact with humanity. We notice points at which God had made known His will, but the people rebelled and ignored Him (Psalm 78:40; Psalm 78:56). We uncover occasions where people believed God and did what He said (Exodus 4:19-20; Joshua 6:2-7). In this discovery, we come to realize that God's will has not changed. We find that God expects His will to be done by His creatures. His will is that we believe Him and do what He says (Mark 3:35). If we are honest with God and ourselves, which we must be in order to continue growing, we turn to God confess when we realize that we have not been doing His will (Numbers 12:11; Numbers 21:7; Judges 10:15; II Samuel 12:13; Psalm 51:4). We don't try to make excuses about not having known His will. Rather, now that we understand His will, we realize that we have been in sin all along. Since we have been taking time to discover God's will, we have also discovered God's grace. So we confess our sin knowing that He is faithful and just to forgive us (I John 1:9). In confession and repentance, God draws us even closer to Himself. We find we are being set apart by God and for God. It is God's will that we be sanctified, set apart for Him (I Thessalonians 5:23; Romans 6:22). What's more, we desire to spend more time getting to know God. There is within us an ever increasing desire to see God's will done on earth. We have been transformed to such an extent that little by little our focus has been shifting from ourselves to God. We find ourselves taking time to pray as Jesus taught his disciples to pray that God's name would be treated as holy and that God's will would be done on earth as it is in heaven (Matthew 6:9-13). The transformation taking place in us is the work of the Holy Spirit dwelling in us (John 14:16-17). Our part has simply been to walk with Christ (Micah 6:8) and learn from Christ (Matthew 11:29), which has increasingly become how we choose to spend our time. We have had to be intentional at times, while at other moments drawing near to God has seemed to come easily. We have been hearing, believing, and doing what God has said. Those who do not spend time with Christ, they have not discovered God's will, nor have they been carrying it out.
As we mature in Christ, more and more areas of our life will be lived for the purpose of seeking, knowing, and doing God's will. Without us even perceiving it, we are be choosing with greater consistency to use our time in the pursuit and service of our Lord. Our deepest desire is to see God's will done on earth and we know that it starts with us and how we spend our time. We have surrendered our lives to Christ. We are living sacrifices and what a joy it is. The world does not understand us. They cannot see what we see. They think we are nuts using our time as we do. But that is what they just don't get, that it isn't "our" time. The time we have is a gift from God. We are simply returning to God what is rightfully His in the first place by living in constant intimate relationship with Him in Christ Jesus. We don't live in a Pollyanna world for we recognize the evil, the brokenness, and the pain all around us. We realize that few people live for God. That few people desire God's will be to be done on earth as it is in heaven. We know that it is the result of the fall of humanity. We understand that sin and death is not what God wants for His creation. That in Christ there is forgiveness of sins, deliverance from death, and the promise of life. Our desire is that all would come to know the Lord. We see what they cannot yet see. We pray that they will have eyes to see and ears to hear. But we cannot make it so for them. That is between then and the Lord. We follow Christ and do his will because he has called us to follow him. In following him we use the time entrusted to us to spread the gospel and make disciples. We go about as Jesus did to seek and save the lost. As we do, we know that ultimately it is not us, but it is the Holy Spirit that works through us and in others to accomplish God's will. We cannot explain how it all works, but that does not keep us from doing God's will. We do His will because we love Him, and we know that He loved us long before we loved Him. We know the truth that while we were yet sinners Christ carried out the will of the Father and died for us. We have been bought with a price and that price is the blood of Christ. We do His will because we know that is God's best for us and for the whole of His creation. We do His will in hopes that others will catch a glimpse of the living God whom we serve and ask us to introduce them to Him. What's more, as mature Christians, we live in such communion with God that doing God's will just seems to come naturally.
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