In the September/October 2011 issue of Diet Locust, I wrote:
I have grown weary of asking for help only to be met by, “If it’s the Lord’s will.” It seems to me that Christians have made knowing the will of God overly charismatic, expecting flickering lights and clattering dishes as the voice of God resounds from within their bowl of cereal. While one may never verbally express such a belief, so long as he or she holds to it internally one never has to confront the fear of leaving the familiar and stepping into the unknown. While I would acquiesce that God at times lays a specific burden on an individual’s heart bringing him or her to a particular task or ministry (like Moses or Paul), I wouldn’t call that the norm. The will of God for every Christian is to live in a manner that glorifies Him (cf. Matthew 22:37; 1 Corinthians 10:31; Colossians 3:17). Since glorifying God includes fulfilling the Great Commission, a commandment to go make disciples, one need only ask, “Where would I best be able to serve as a witness for Christ?”
Then in May of this year I read Kevin DeYoung’s book Just Do Something. Everything I had been wrestling with during the previous months, what I was trying to convey in that newsletter, was articulated by so clearly by DeYoung. He says:
Too often God’s people tinker around with churches, jobs, and relationships, worrying that they haven’t found God’s perfect will for their lives. Or–even worse–they do absolutely nothing, stuck in a frustrated state of paralyzed indecision, waiting…waiting…waiting for clear, direct, unmistakable direction. But God doesn’t need to tell us what to do at each fork in the road. He’s already revealed his plan for our lives: to love him with our whole hearts, to obey His Word, and after that, to do what we like. No need for hocus-pocus. No reason to be directionally challenged. Just do something.
Have you read Just Do Something? What did you think?
