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“What should I do for a living?  Should I marry her?  Should I move to that town?  Should I take that job?  Which school should I go to?  What is my destiny?  God, what is your plan for my life?  Just show me.”

This has been on my radar over the last several weeks through conversations, blogs, tweets and such.  I think these questions are normal.  I’ve actually been digging through some of this over the last several months on my own.  I think at the heart of it all, it boils down to these questions:

1. Does God have a specific plan/will for my life?
2. What is God’s plan/will for my life?
3. Will God show me what his will/plan is for my life?

Here are my thoughts:
Does God have a specific plan and purpose for your life? I believe so.  Does He mean for you to discover this ahead of time? No, I don’t believe so.

There is a teaching that has been around for a while.  It’s this idea of discovering God’s will like it is this nebulous, entity floating around and it is our job to track it down, to find it and embrace it.  It’s what I call “The Disney Blueprint”: we’re waiting on the fairytale.  My experience is that just leads to doubt, inaction, confusion and pain.  Or like one speaker I heard put it, “we treat it like a choose your own adventure” book: If you choose option A, “congrats you’re in God’s will”.  Choose option B, and “Oh, so sorry, you missed the will of Gob by choosing b.  You chose the nose dive off a cliff for your life.  You’re toast and are done”.

So, the question remains: How do I live in the will of God?  That’s a long answer, but in short, you do what you know is God’s will.  God’s will is for you and I to grow in the likeness of Jesus and He promises to work all things for your good. Seek to live in obedience to Jesus and develop the heart and mind of Christ.(Matthew 6:33, Romans 8:28, 1 Thessalonians 4:3).  As we do that, He promises to be with us.  I’m not saying that I don’t believe in Providence.  I’m saying that if we knew the whole story ahead of time, it would not be a life of faith, trust and holiness.

Some Must Reads/Listens
Couple of resources that I came across that are food for thought:

• Just Do Something – If I had a student or friend that came up to me and asked, “How do I discover God’s will for my life?”, I would immediately point them toward to a message entitled “Just Do Something” by Kevin DeYoung.  One of the best messages that I’ve heard on God’s will/plan, bar none.  Highly recommend it.  A great listen.  He also has a book entitled the same.
• Donald Miller’s post “Does God Have a Specific Plan For Your Life? Probably Not” While I don’t agree with premise that God doesn’t have a specific plan for our life, there are some really good thoughts in his post.  I think for some we get so focused on God’s plan and purpose that we are scared or even forget to dream, take a chance and live.  Particularly love this quote: “But if He is setting a box of crayons down in front of you (a box of crayons called life) then by all means draw.”

23 Now while he was in Jerusalem at the Passover Feast, many people saw the miraculous signs he was doing and believed in his name.24 But Jesus would not entrust himself to them, for he knew all men.25 He did not need man’s testimony about man, for he knew what was in a man. John 2: 23-25

Placing your trust in someone else is a scary proposition.  It leaves you vulnerable when you do trust in someone.

It reminds me of a conversation that I had with one of my mentors early on in ministry.  To this day I can’t remember what exactly we were discussing, but I do remember it had something to do with talking to other people about your life, struggles and what all is going on on the inside.  I’m pretty easy to read as far as what’s going on in the inside so maybe that was it   What he said to me took me back: “Alan, don’t cast your pearls before swine.”  “What?!  Are you calling my friends pigs?”, I thought.  Now, of course he was quoting Matthew 7:6.  I had just never heard it in that context before.  The point he was making was a very good one and one that I’ve taken to heart to this day: Be careful who you trust the things that are deep inside and important to.

Personally, I really value when people are honest, real and authentic.  And being transparent has its time and place, too.  That said, it doesn’t mean that we should entrust ourselves to everyone.  Being “real” doesn’t mean being careless with what’s going on in our lives.  I think that’s what Jesus was saying here.  He understood that the same crowd that was believing in Him now would one day be the same crowd chanting “Crucify, Crucify!”  My take on it is if you have 2 or 3 people in your life that you can be transparent with, real and even accountable to about the good and the bad, you’re blessed.

The Key Card Hotel….even the toilet is made out of cards.

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