I had the privilege of addressing the \u201cGusto!\u201d group at King of Glory Lutheran Church here in Dallas.\u00a0 As the description of the group might suggest, the class is largely (though not exclusively) made up of folks who have retired.\u00a0 And the subject that they wanted to explore dealt with God\u2019s will.<\/p>\n
One of the people who attended admitted that she really wasn\u2019t sure that there was much for someone her age to gain from a conversation of that kind.\u00a0 But, thankfully, I did a bit of \u201cprofiling\u201d and chose to answer the questions that I think most people have about the will of God at or around the age of retirement.\u00a0 I don\u2019t have the full text here (though later I will post the recording).<\/p>\n
But I can share, in brief, the six questions I raised for the group and the abbreviated form of the answers I gave:<\/p>\n
i.\u00a0 Did I make choices that brought me to this place in life?<\/p>\n
Yes.\u00a0 Many of us talk about having done the only thing we could do, or about God bringing us to this or that place in life.\u00a0 That\u2019s understandable language, but when it suggests that we haven\u2019t made any real choices or that we bear no responsibility for them, then something is amiss.<\/p>\n
We may not want to take responsibility.<\/p>\n
We may have too simple a vision of what it means for God to \u201cbe in control.\u201d<\/p>\n
But when we seemingly claim that God is completely responsible for the events in our lives, then we run the risk of erasing moral responsibility for our choices.\u00a0 And we also make nonsense of the spiritual gifts that we have been given.\u00a0 We are free and free to be creative.\u00a0 Part of the joy and privilege of being a child of God is the gift of choice.<\/p>\n
Life is not paint by numbers \u2014 it is a blank canvas that God invites us to fill with color.\u00a0 And the reassurance given us is not that nothing happens that God doesn\u2019t will \u2014 the reassurance is that God is with us.<\/p>\n
ii.\u00a0 Did you make some wrong choices?<\/p>\n
Yes.\u00a0 And you haven\u2019t made your last one.<\/p>\n
Mistakes lack moral content.\u00a0 They are often the by-product of a lack of information, growth in wisdom, experience, and education.\u00a0 \u201cTo err is human.\u201d<\/p>\n
When it comes to mistakes the important thing to remember is that \u201cyou know what you know when you know it.\u201d\u00a0 Once you do, the only mistake you can make is to continue making the same mistake.\u00a0 Endless post mortems do neither you, nor the people you love any good.<\/p>\n
Sin \u2014 the willful choice to ignore God \u2014 is a different matter.\u00a0 But even here, it is important to ask, \u201cwhat do even sinful choices tell me about the needs of my soul.\u201d\u00a0 Repentance and amendment of life is not about making us feel bad about ourselves, it is about restoring and repairing the depth of intimacy we enjoy with God and with others.<\/p>\n
iv.\u00a0 Does it matter that I have made the wrong choices?<\/p>\n
Not as much as you think.\u00a0 God\u2019s providence is endlessly adaptive.\u00a0 Our conception of divine control is shaped by the simple metrics of human control\u2026\u201dIf I am in control, then nothing happens that I don\u2019t want to happen.\u201d<\/p>\n
But God gives us the gift of choice and can respond creatively and in ways that make for new possibilities even when we \u201cget it wrong.\u201d<\/p>\n
In all likelihood, God is probably more often frustrated by our indecision than the choices we make \u2014 and all of them figure more importantly as an opportunity for getting to know God.<\/p>\n
v.\u00a0 Do I have choices left and do they matter?<\/p>\n
Yes.\u00a0 Age has nothing to do with the question of God\u2019s will for us.<\/p>\n
In the first place, discerning the will of God is not about us anyway.\u00a0 It is about cultivating an awareness of where, when, and how God is at work in the world.\u00a0 And that is a process that has nothing to do with our individual lives.\u00a0 In fact, there is something to say for the wisdom that someone older might bring to that process.<\/p>\n
The prophets used to speak of \u201cyoung men dreaming dreams and old men seeing visions.\u201d\u00a0 Every generation has light to bring to bear on the effort to listen for God.<\/p>\n
To the extent that our individual lives matter \u2014 and they do \u2014 the thing to remember is that the work of God in our lives is not about the things we do \u2014 never mind the things we do early in life.\u00a0 They are about the person we are becoming.\u00a0 And the choices we make shape that becoming over a lifetime.<\/p>\n
That is why it is far more important to ask, \u201cWho am I before God?\u201d than it is to ask \u201cWhat does God want me to do?\u201d<\/p>\n
God loves you better than you love yourself and you were meant for glory.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I had the privilege of addressing the \u201cGusto!\u201d group at King of Glory Lutheran Church here in Dallas.\u00a0 As the description of the group might suggest, the class is largely (though not exclusively) made up of folks who have retired.\u00a0 And the subject that they wanted to explore dealt with God\u2019s will. One of the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":240,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-290","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-spiritual-perspectives"],"yoast_head":"\n