Scripture
And yet they say to God, ‘Go away. We want no part of you and your ways. Who is the Almighty, and why should we obey him? What good will it do us to pray?’
~Job 21:14-15, NLT
Quote
The fleeting pleasures of this life are senseless, useless, and insignificant if we try to live without reference to Jesus Christ and gratitude to God the Father.
~Timothy Keller
I’ve been a Christian since age nine which means I am 61 spiritually speaking. I cannot imagine what it would be like not to desire and yearn for God’s will to be done. Does this mean I am perfect or even close? No, it doesn’t but I can honestly say that I very much want God’s will to be done. I pray the model prayer often and I joyfully pray for His will to be done on earth as it is in heaven. When God revealed his plans to Mary, she said in response, “Be it unto me according to Your word.” This is the prayer I pray constantly; I only change one word, “Be it unto me according to Your will.” I’m not looking forward to my baptism of shame: I know that I must give an account and I am not at all convinced that I will hear a “Well done, thou good and faithful servant,” but even so, I want God’s will to be done and I am looking forward to His Kingdom coming. I want God’s will to be done today, in my life, in the lives of my family, at Grace Point, at Danville Baptist, at Sardis Springs, at Friendship. I pray for these pastors and churches daily and I am praying for God’s will be done. If I know my heart, I long for the will of God to be done. I pant for it like a deer thirsting for water.
Everyone does not feel as I do. Job’s friends tried to convince him that the wicked do not prosper and Job begged to differ. They do prosper. Michael Bloomberg is prosperous, the Walton triplets are prosperous, the Busch family in St. Louis is prosperous from peddling drugs [alcohol] but I doubt that any of them think about God’s will. Job said, “They want no part of His will; they refuse to acknowledge Him or give Him thanks and they certainly don’t pray.” Not only do they not want God’s will, they want to thwart His will. The Gay Mafia does not want the gospel preached in Great Britain. Do you think it is God’s will that the gospel be preached to the world? Sure you do, it is scripture but they don’t give any credence to scripture and they despise God’s will. In this secular culture in which we live, the emphasis is on doing your own thing. The emphasis is on your personal happiness and pleasure which is why that call it the “Me” generation. You see the world doesn’t believe in a future: they believe we are evolving animals, here for a time and then no more. They believe the sands of time will deplete the energy of the sun and the human race will be extinct and there will be no one to remember anything. This explains why they are so horrible at history, they don’t believe in a future. It is not our status in this world that counts but in the next that defines us. {Keller, God’s Wisdom For Navigating Life, page 64}
More sunshine than rain yesterday: I will take it.