We had an enjoyable and fruitful time over the weekend on our retreat. The general theme was "Fear, Faith and Fumbling Forward: trusting God for the road ahead". Nice alliteration in there, eh?
We looked at ways of approaching those "big decisions" - of which it appears there are many at this stage of life - from a specifically Christian perspective. Sometimes we wish there was a set of rules, or a checklist to help us make decisions. I want to focus on a couple of questions as a way of entering into that process of "making decisions".
My fundamental calling as a Christian involves 3 things: loving God, loving neighbour, and participating in God's building of His kingdom. When I am faced with some sort of decision, some sort of choice, I try to ask of myself a few questions related to those things. How will A or B contribute to building up the love of God and love of neighbour, either in myself or in someone else? That is, after all, what Jesus says we should be about. With some decisions - like career path for instance, how can I see Jesus enabling me to follow those two great commandments? At certain stages of life ("and Abram journeyed by stages") there seem to be impending and important decisions to be made. How do I know what that elusive thing called "God's will" is for me?
I think a good part of the answer has to do with recognizing what it is Jesus intends for us. He intends to transform us into a certain kind of people. He wants us to become Christ-like. And that means trying to see how our choices and decisions either enable or hinder the building up of love of God and neighbour in our lives.
Then there is that whole business of the kingdom. I strongly suggested that there are two ways of asking the "guidance" question. Either I can ask "what is God's will for me?" or I can ask "what is God's will for us?". Though related, these are two different questions. When we looked at the OT stories, we saw God calling a person and forming a people. Though God starts with an individual, He ends with a nation. And so too in the NT - Jesus calls individuals to be his followers, but he ends with the forming of a people - the Church. And so my choices, my decisions, my "guidance", has something to do with my place in this larger thing called the Kingdom of God. How does my path enable me to participate in God's action in his kingdom?
Of course, we can insert things which Christians through the centuries have reminded us of: attention to prayer, reading of Scripture, listening for the Spirit, listening to the counsel of other Christians, and of course using the brains that God has given us.
I also want to talk about joy. I strongly believe that God also gives us guidance through our joy. The particular gifts that He has given, and the particular person he has created us to be, should find in some fashion a joyfulness in our vocation, whatever that may be. That does not mean that there will not be difficulty, hardship or the call to sacrifice, but somewhere in there will be joy if we are listening and responding to that thing we call "God's will for me."
I'm still looking through the notes from the weekend, including the nuggets of wisdom that we all brought to the retreat. You would be amazed at how much I learn from you all! I'll get around to adding a few of those thoughts in a day or two.
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