“Do you know God’s will for your life?” is a question I have heard quite a few times now at different churches. It seems to be one of those recurring messages, like tithing and sex, that everyone has heard at least once. I personally ran into this question just the other day as I was driving into work and passed by a church. I was quite surprised that had I gone to the 10 A.M. service I could have figured out what God’s will was for my life. So why didn’t I?

Many of us want to know what God’s will is for our lives, and I will admit I struggle with trying to understand what God is doing most of the time. I think we believe that if we knew God’s will for our lives, we could be at peace that we aren’t screwing it up, or that God’s will isn’t for us to die in a fiery car crash. But on the other hand, we may say to ourselves, if we knew than we would never do those things that would be necessary for to achieve God’s will, or that we would be too afraid to go outside the house lest the car explode the second we get in it. We might even talk about living in faith, allowing God to fulfill his will without our butting in. It seems if you have ever wondered what God’s will is for your life, you have had that internal argument about whether you should know or not. Or maybe some of you don’t care and just want to know.

And then there is the argument about whether God really does have a specific will for each person, or just a general will, and if he does have a will for you, can you choose to follow it or not. These multitudes of questions fly around and entire books are written about it.

So why didn’t I attend the 10 A.M. service?

The funny thing about churches discussing God’s will for my life, or your life, or your friend’s life, is that the discussion often leaves me feeling like I just saw a fortune-teller at the county fair: there is the temptation to know my future, to be given insight into how my life will play out, but in the end it is all broad and general statements. The answers we usually receive feel less like biblical insight and more like cheap parlor tricks at the fair: I bet there is a beautiful brunette in my future, but that is because I like brunettes. As well, I’m sure God does want me to stop sinning, but haven’t we talked about this before when we weren’t talking about God’s will for my life?

The church seems to have taken up the cheap tricks of the circus to draw people in, rather than admitting ignorance of God’s will for your life. And it must be your specific life, because if the church asked, “Do you know God’s general will for people?” I don’t think many would attend that service; for the most part turn on the t.v. and all sorts of different voices will tell you what God’s will is for people. But that is the question that really gets answered in these services as broad strokes are used to paint a general picture for your life that most people will get behind. And strangely enough the picture tends to be bright, sunny, and happy. Whether it is a white picket fence house, a new job, a happy family, Heaven, the message is positive. And yet the very same Bible used to back up that happy picture, when read thoroughly, paints a different picture of hardship and struggles, promises of death and sickness, and accepts that there will be trials. The biblical picture seems less concerned with giving us a happy feeling, and more concerned with encouraging steadfast faith through trials (ref. Rev. 1-3). The biblical story speaks of a hope that is to come, but talks about the pain and hardship that is now. And yet our churches want to tell us that God’s will for us is a happy story, and not a story that mimics Jesus’ own story. And maybe that is why nobody falls for it.

Instead, if we are to speak about the will of God for our lives, maybe it should be honest; maybe we pull people in, but we shock them as they leave by admitting that we don’t know their specific role in this life, but that we do know the story, and how it ends. Rather than telling people about Heaven and the eternal joy we’ll have there, we tell them about Jesus and the suffering he went through. And then we tell them about how God wants us to follow Jesus in his own footsteps of redemption, to be cross bearers for the world, and to die to redeem each other. Maybe the church is called to preach a will for people’s lives that doesn’t sound very good, that shocks them to hear such honesty.

And maybe all they want is an honest answer.

Cameron

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