What am I speculated to do with my life?
We have a seemingly infinite list of decisions, options, and voices around us telling us what to do. Yet the noise of each clamoring opinion and the dizzying feeling of so many options can keep us from entering into God’s will for us.
How will we resolve? Or higher yet, how will we discern what God wants for our future?
Most of us need a very clear sign from God, a “calling,” or an obvious open door. We envision God handing us an in depth plan and brochure outlining the trail we should always follow and what each of our decisions might result in. Sometimes, the fear of selecting mistaken can keep us from selecting in any respect. Or it may well make us hedge our bets on the safest selection in hopes that we protect ourselves from any unexpected twists and turns that life can throw our way.
But God doesn’t necessarily call us to the protected selection or perhaps a clear selection. Sometimes, we’ve got to take a step and see what we discover. Sometimes, we’ve got to faithfully fail forward.
So how can we discern what next step to take? While there isn’t a actual formula in determining what exactly we should always do, Romans 12:2 gives us insight into how we should always go about deciding:
“Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you’ll have the ability to check and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing, and ideal will. (NIV)”
In this short verse, the apostle Paul gives three steps on the subject of determining God’s will:
- Choose not to adapt.
- Allow our minds to be transformed.
- Test to find out God’s perfect will for our lives.
1. Choose not to adapt.
When it involves taking the subsequent step in a profession or in any life decision, it may well be easy to show to worldly ideas about success. There could be pressure to easily follow the expected path. Find the best-paying job. Put in long hours and put money into your profession – even when meaning sacrificing meaningful relationships and physical or mental health. The world’s pattern is to earn your value and value by climbing the ladder of success by doggedly fighting your approach to the highest. This cultural moment tells us to decide on our life’s path based on external aspects equivalent to pay or status and to disregard the inner cost of conforming to the blueprint of the world.
The pattern of Christ, then again, is antithetical to the pattern of the world. Rather than in search of the markers of success based on what’s in your checking account or what number of plaques decorate your wall, Christ looks at the guts. Jesus said, “What good is it for somebody to achieve the entire world, yet forfeit their soul? (Mark 8:36 NIV)”
Gaining wealth, status, or accomplishment just isn’t the mark of victory within the eyes of Christ. Instead, Jesus looks to the guts of what we’re doing and why we’re doing it.
Now, this definitely doesn’t mean that our decisions should at all times go against the better-paying job or the profession with more status, however it does mean we’ve got to dig deep into our why. Even on the subject of “good” things, patterning our lives on worldly methods of deriving meaning for our existence will ultimately erode our souls.
What does that seem like then on the subject of selecting our next step in life? Take a while to find out what’s underneath your desires. While happening a long-term mission trip is great, believing somewhere that doing so will earn favor in God’s eyes just isn’t. Or selecting the profession path that you think that will bring you adoration and affection from people you care about, is patterning our lives on something aside from Jesus. Picking the job since it has more figures on the paycheck just isn’t necessarily the right selection.
Spend a while praying about your why and asking others to talk into your desires will truly get to your heart – and make it easier to keep from conformity to worldly patterns.
2. Allow your mind to be transformed.
If we usually are not to adapt to the world’s ideas and patterns, the best way we go about doing that begins in our minds. As Christians, our pondering and thought processes are to look markedly different than the culture. The way we arrive at our answers about our future will look like we’re completing a wholly different math problem than our neighbor. We not only have to think in another way, but we want a wholly different imagination about human existence – one which’s rooted within the deeper story, deeper love, and a deeper identity present in the gospel.
How do we alter our thoughts? Simply put, by being in God’s word and by praying for his guidance. Through reading God’s thoughts, the Holy Spirit can begin to vary our minds about what matters most, what we should always value, and what decisions we should always make. As our pondering transforms right into a holy imagination, we’ll begin to see that God has less to say about what we do and more to say about how we go about selecting what we do.
With a mind that patterns its decisions on that of Christ, the doors we decide to open and walk through won’t at all times make sense to those watching. It could mean saying no to the choice with advantages and a 401k in exchange for a job that uses our skillset to assist the least of those. It could even seem like taking the subsequent opportunity you may have – even when it’s not the “dream job” – to offer to your family. God honors that sort of faithfulness. The aspects going into making a selection could seem absurd to our friends or members of the family who’re basing their lives on the world’s patterns, and yet, that is God’s plan and God’s encouragement in making decisions.
3. Test to find out God’s will.
It is simply after the rejection of the culture’s formula for a “good life” and a metamorphosis of our pondering that we are going to have the ability to find out if we’re in God’s will. Until we stop following the ways of the world and stop pondering just like the world, we cannot have the clarity given to us by the Holy Spirit to decide on what God has for us. When we all know the character of God and the way he moves, we are able to test whether or not a possibility is something he would approve of. As we study his word and provides it the prospect to actually change us from inside, we are able to determine what aligns with what we all know to be true about him and what doesn’t.
It can feel scary at times to walk into the subsequent season God has for us, but as we maneuver through the technique of looking for God’s will, there’s comfort in knowing that regardless of what we resolve, God can use our lives, even missteps, and mistaken decisions, for his glory. There isn’t any perfect formula for making hard decisions on the subject of our future, but there’s an ideal God who’s willing to walk us through the decision-making process every step of the best way.
Photo Credit: ©GettyImages/Tamer Dagas
