I can’t even begin to put a number on the times people ask me what the will of God is for their lives. I can’t even begin to number the times I’ve asked people what the will of God is for my life. Each time the advice I give and the advice I get is simple: Love God and love others. BUT how to live into this will of God is complex and multifaceted.
For this is the will of God, that by doing good you should put to silence the ignorance of foolish people. Live as people who are free, not using your freedom as a cover-up for evil, but living as servants of God. (1 Peter 2:15-16)
You love God and other people by doing good despite what others think of your “doing good”, this is what the Apostle Peter is saying. The will of God is to go out before other people who may be foolish and love them by doing good. Let me caveat this last comment because I don’t want you to get into harms way. “Doing good” doesn’t mean putting yourself in harms way; however, it does mean going out of your way to do something for somebody or some people who don’t necessarily deserve it. This means going out of your way in a sacrificial manner to help, assist or even make comfortable, the lives of friends, family and colleagues who make your life a practical living hell. The rationale behind doing good is simple: because Jesus did the same thing. He saves us when we’re the worst and even when we’re our best, he continues to sanctify us from our wickedness.
The life we live should be intentionally good, using our abilities and gifts for the benefit of other people, and I don’t mean just the people who treat you well or the people who do not annoy you. At the end of the day, you’re not really being Christ-like (aka Christian) if you’re not living as a servant of God. You can’t be a servant of God if you’re live under the delusion that you are the master of your own universe. Therefore, the next time you are pondering about lashing out at other people because you were jilted, embarrassed or persecuted, remember that you should live as a servant of God and use your will to do good despite those negative experiences.
Let’s look to Jesus and be a servant after God’s own heart.
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