For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you abstain from sexual immorality; that each one of you know how to control his own body in holiness and honor, not in the passion of lust like the Gentiles who do not know God; that no one transgress and wrong his brother in this matter, because the Lord is an avenger in all these things, as we told you beforehand and solemnly warned you. For God has not called us for impurity, but in holiness. Therefore whoever disregards this, disregards not man but God, who gives his Holy Spirit to you. | 1 Thessalonians 4.3-8
As I wrote yesterday, there are three ways that the Bible uses the phrase: the Will of God. I covered the first two yesterday, and today, the text will address the third: God’s Will of Direction. Most of the time, when we talk about God’s Will for my life, we are talking about this third idea. We want to know what God expects of us.
Often this comes in relation to a job, or a relationship, or even a vote. What is the direction that God wants me to go? I have found that for many people, God’s Will is viewed as a tightrope being walked; the fear is that any wrong decision will cause you to fall out of His prescribed plan. This puts a lot of weight on every choice we make, because any left or right turn may knock us off of God’s Will (not to mention the difficulty of finding this path once again once you have strayed). The good news is, this isn’t how the Bible talks about God’s Will of Direction. He does have a prescribed plan for each of us, but it is secured in His Will of Decree, it isn’t something that we are expected to identify and adhere to.
What we need to do is stop trying to figure out what God has for me, specifically, and to look at the direction that He has given for all who trust in Him. In verse 3 above, Paul makes it clear what God’s will of direction is for ALL of His people: their sanctification. The word sanctification means to be set apart for holiness; it is the process by which we become more and more connected with God through dependence. If this is His Will of Direction for all of His people, then this has great implications for how we live in this world. God’s main concern for us is not that we are happy or free or successful or powerful, but that we are being changed. The counter to this is Romans 8.28:
And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.
People will use this to say that God is producing good for those who are His. Which is true, but His definition of good and ours is not the same. We want things in this temporary world that will stunt our sanctification and lure us away from holiness. God is willing to deny us these things, even through pain, to bring us to an ultimate good. God gives a will of direction in His laws and commands that calls us to embrace His way of life, even if it is hard and goes against what we want. We should celebrate this, because we trust that He is working ALL THINGS to an ultimate good.
This changes how we interact with the world around us, by changing the end that God is working toward. No longer do we measure things by influence or comfort; God’s best (and our best) is found through deeper relationship with Him. We don’t have to fight for power or fear persecution, because these do not mar what God is most concerned with (if you look at the history of Christianity, you could argue that pain and suffering actually fuels sanctification). I say this on election day, because it is not only the case that Jesus is still on the throne no matter who is in the White House; we can be confident that no matter who is in the White House, God is using it to sanctify His people.
This also helps us to take our gaze away from politics and to ask how each and every one of us can use the situation that God has placed us in to grow in holiness and our trust in the finished work of Jesus. It doesn’t matter what laws get made or even if the whole nation crumbles, we can still accomplish what God intends for us. This is why Paul is so confident in the face of persecution and death, because he knows that God’s will transcends all earthly power and works in, through, and in spite of what is going on here. This is why he ends Romans 8 reminding God’s people:
For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. | 38–39
Nothing can separate us from the love of God; rest in that today.