There are have times in my life when I go full tilt at what I think is the right direction for me to head. Most of those times, almost all of those times, I haven’t stopped and prayed to find out if what I want to do is what God wants me to do. Almost without exception, the times when I lack guidance from God is when I run full tilt into a wall.
That hurts! There’s nothing like pouring your heart and soul into something that fails or which is taken away in a manner you cannot control. The problem, for me at least, is that while I have poured my soul into it, it isn’t something from God. It turns out I was heading the wrong way, the world’s way, once again.
While failing may hurt in the short term, I’ve found that, in the long term, I am best to have lost it. Whatever it was that I wanted was something that would keep me from what I was really supposed to be doing.
It’s that competitive spirit, that need to be best, that sometimes drives me. It isn’t the spirit of love and truth that shows God’s mercy and goodness to the world. So, it was not really of the spirit but rather of my own prideful flesh. God has told us that in and of ourselves, the heart of man is wicked. It is only through Jesus that we learn to love and to think of others as we do ourselves.
When you make that leap, the competitive nature is checked. It doesn’t go away and competition in and of itself is not wicked. When a person in sports works hard and wins, that is a great thing. When a company provides a great service and becomes the most popular at what they do, that is also not necessarily a bad thing.
It’s when the reason behind the drive is flawed that the nature of winning becomes evil. At least that is how it has been for me.
I’m learning to slow down and look for what I am supposed to be doing rather than what I want to do. What it is that God wants me to do. I’ve found that many of the tasks that I do are not that important. Also, the tasks that I have allowed to drop off are the ones where I should be spending my time and effort.
It’s funny, really. We can go to God and ask that he do this thing or that to help us. We can ask over and over again without looking at it from his eyes. So, when we don’t get what we want, we say God isn’t listening and he isn’t helping. Oh, but he is. He is listening and he is helping.
He hears our selfish prayers and does exactly what he should – which is nothing. By doing nothing, he is providing the most help he can do. Then, sometimes gently, and sometimes (like with me) with the feeling of a smack across the noggin, he gets us to look at something else. The something else is always better even if it is not as successful by the way the world measures it.
Learning to hear God and then to heed him is an unending struggle for me. The struggle is against my own thoughts and desires and not anything to do with God. His way is true and right and just. What he wants for us is the right thing and the thing that we should be working toward.
Short of the Damascus experience which Saul of Taurus experienced (a literal blinding light and the voice of Jesus from heaven), we have to go in search of God’s word. The search isn’t far or difficult. It can be found in the Bible. You can also ask for guidance from God in prayer. Another way is to watch a sermon or read a book by a godly man or woman who encourages you to look to God.
These are all ways that I have approached God. When I search diligently, he is good to show me my way. Not the entire way, as that would be too much for me to take on and I would, more than likely, misunderstand it. He gives me enough guidance to get me walking where he wants me to go and talking about the things he wants me to say.
I don’t know if you have experienced anything similar to the failures that I have had. If you have, try looking to God to have him show you where he wants you to go. This is true of those who know and follow Christ as well as those who don’t.
For those who don’t yet follow Christ, the first step is to find him. He isn’t lost, you are. He is there waiting for you with all the love you could possibly imagine. There he was, two thousand years ago, looking directly at you as he hung on the cross. Jesus willing went there to pay for the sins you have and will commit over your entire life.
He died for you and rose again so that you could be forgiven, have relationship with God, and have eternal life. All you have to do is accept him as your Savior, repent of your sins, acknowledge him as the resurrected God in flesh and start to live your live for him.
You don’t have to be sinless (only he was sinless), you don’t have to be good (who is apart from Jesus?), you don’t have to do good works (anything we do on our own are filthy rags to God) and you don’t have to do anything special to merit his love. He already loves you.
Start there and then, as with other Christ-followers, ask God to show you your path and to help you stay on it. Ask him for help in the areas you struggle with. You’ll fail from time to time but he still loves you. Just tell him you are sorry that you have strayed and ask him to forgive you (he already has) and to keep you focused on what he wants you to do.
Romans 12:1-2
Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God — this is your true and proper worship.
Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is — his good, pleasing and perfect will.