Dr. Robert Crilley

Sunday, May 09, 2010

Many of us believe that the will of God consists of a specific path that we should follow into the future. God, of course, knows exactly what this path is, but since God’s plan is not always apparent to us, we need to be about the business of discovering it. In other words, from the multitude of different roads that our lives could travel, we must figure out which is the one that, in fact, God intends for us to travel. As a result, we pray for guidance, we look for signs, we seek the counsel of others, we read the Bible for insight, and we search our own hearts.

Eventually, though, the moment arrives when we must choose. After all, we cannot stand at that fork in the road forever. Sooner or later, a decision has to be made, regardless of whether we have a strong sense about which is the right path or not. And so, we lift our foot and take that first, tentative step—secretly hoping that, as we forge ahead, God will provide us with some kind of confirmation.

But what if that confirmation never comes? What if we keep second-guessing ourselves, always questioning if we made the wrong choice? Would that imply that we forever missed out on the call of God? What if we became an accountant, for example, instead of the teacher that God intended us to be? Or what if we married this person, when God actually planned for us to marry somebody else? What then?

If you are like me, you have probably wondered about such things—maybe even worried about them. But when it comes to worrying about the future, Jesus is pretty clear on the matter. He says, “Don’t! Do not worry about tomorrow (if for no other reason than because it’s not here yet). Just concentrate on today. Strive first for the kingdom of God.”

In other words, I’m not sure that I subscribe to the concept that there is only one, specific person on the face of the planet that God has selected for us to marry, and if we don’t happened to marry that one person, then God’s plan for our lives is forever thrown off-track. Nor is there only one career that God has mapped out for us, and if we fail to pursue it, then God’s plan will be hopelessly ruined. It seems to me that there are probably a multitude of paths that we could follow and still achieve God’s will—just as long as we are consistently putting first things first.

“Strive first for the kingdom of God,” says Jesus. “Pay attention to what God would have you do today—right here and now.”

If we do that, then we don’t really need to worry about tomorrow, or even to second-guess whether we made the right choice yesterday. All we have is today, and if we can put God first today—and continue that practice every day hereafter—then everything else will fall into place!