...And Do Whatever

So I was sitting in my intern class today (I'm an intern at Ecola Bible School) and our teacher said something very interesting to me that kind of blew my mind. My mind was blown today. It was mainly this quote:

Love, and do what you like.
-Saint Augustine

I don't really know who Saint Augustine is, but that quote rings very true to me. Also, when the teacher said it, he said "Love God, and do what you like," which makes more sense to me but still. The class was about trying to find out God's will and this concept was a sub-point. The teacher was saying that we can figure out God's unrevealed will (Our future, and choices to be made) by consciously carrying out his revealed will (Principles, promises, and commands in scripture), which goes hand in hand with this quote.

So to find out God's will, all we have to do is love and then do whatever we want. This can sound very liberal and non biblical until examined. In order to live out this lifestyle, one can't let these two things contradict each other. Let's look at this:

Love for God can be carried out in these ways:
1: Prayer, Bible Intake, Worship - Basically growing closer to God by the usual means. Worship can be what you make it, so don't associate the word with the act of singing modern "praise songs." Everything you do in life can be made into worship, which leads me to...
2: Living Intentionally - Many Christians think that by living their normal lives, they're being a "light to the world" as we're commanded to. That's partially true, but just living life like normal isn't going to do that. You need to always, ALWAYS be giving 100% towards letting your light shine as bright as you can. Simply hanging out and having a good time isn't going to set you apart from the rest of the world like we're commanded, you must always be having a servant and giving mindset, putting others ahead of ourselves. Jesus tells us in the sermon on the mount to "Let your light shine so that men may see your good deeds and praise your Father in Heaven," and Paul tells us to "Work out our salvation..." Christianity is not works-based, but in order to live the Christian life, we must always be giving EVERYTHING in us to let our lights shine brighter. Which leads me to...
3: Fellowship - Christians also sometimes think that fellowship is just hanging out with other Christians, similar to how they think that you can just live a passive, easy lifestyle and claim that you're being a witness by the way you life. No, fellowship is more than that, it's keeping each other accountable, it's sharing your hopes and fears, it's telling other about what God is doing in your life, it's being completely transparent, it's trusting and relying on the rest of the body of Christ. Fellowship is not talking to other Christians about school, your job, your life, and never even mentioning God or His place in your life and how you're doing in your walk with him. This must be remembered when meeting with other Christians.
4: Furthering the Kingdom - This goes with my second point, about living intentionally, and is very similar. We must always be on the look out for ways in which we can make God's name glorified among men. Selfishness isn't an option.

I realize most of these things, many people already know, but it doesn't help to be reminded. This is also not an exhaustive list of ways we can live lives pleasing to God. But when you're striving to live a life pleasing to God, you're living in God's revealed will for your life. What about his unrevealed will? How will we ever figure that out?

I learned tonight that we shouldn't worry about God's unrevealed will for our life. If we concentrate on doing what we know is right and move forward with our lives, we're putting ourselves in the best position to let God guide us. If we focus on what God will have in our future, we'll just be sitting there clueless and not getting anywhere. Like a ship, it must be moving forward for the rudder to be able to steer it. We must be moving forward in our Christian walks in order for God to guide us.

But what if you have a fork in the road and don't know which way to go? My response to that would be to decide which path you'd most like to take, keeping in mind you're trying to live a life pleasing to God. Sometimes the decision can be hard, but standing in one spot never helps. Seek counsel from other mature Christians and tell them what's going on and let them help you to examine the decision in front of you, but don't let them tell you what to do.

There was another quote, but I'm not exactly sure who said it or exactly how it goes. I will paraphrase: God is not in the business of making maps. Rather, he gives us flashlights to see the road directly ahead of us. It makes sense.

All in all, the easiest way to look at the Christian life is that St. Augustine quote I put at the beginning. If we're striving to live a life pleasing to God, it should be easy for us to press on into the unknown. If we know that we're doing all we can to live out God's revealed will for us, the future and God's plans for us shouldn't be worried about, even though we have the tendency to do just that.

I owe a lot of what is written here to God speaking to me through L██ B███████ at M████ B████ and the class he gave us tonight.