NOT AS I WILL
Not As I Will
In the church, we have a lot of ways to refer to ourselves: Christians, disciples, followers of Christ, servants of God, or simply the church, just to name a few. Our identity is so closely tied to the very idea of following God and loving Him. However, beyond a simple title or name, we oftentimes don’t have much to show for when it comes to having a heartfelt service for Christ. The only times we may bow our heads to pray is over every meal, the only times we may pick up our Bibles is to take it to church, and the only times that we may repent of our sins is not because we want to be nearer to God, but we want to be further from Hell. Hands that work without heart supporting it are missing the entire purpose of the Christian life which is to love God and to glorify Him. Part of this is not looking for what we have to do, but more of what we can do to please God. This comes by choosing His will over ours and letting Him be the Lord of our lives, since it is not we who live, but Christ who lives in us (Galatians 2:20).
The key in transforming our attitudes and priorities about who matters most lies within prayer. Oftentimes we use prayer to check off our “spiritual shopping list” that is full of requests regarding secular matters rather than what God wants in our lives. We even see examples of Jesus’ prayer life as lessons for us to follow. Even in Gethsemane, when Jesus was praying, He said, “O My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as You will.” (Matthew 26:39). Jesus was praying for deliverance from the wrath that He was taking on for humanity, but He did it in a manner so that He was asking for it to be done in accordance with the Father’s will, not His. In other words, He spoke with the Father about what He was going through to surrender His human will to the Father’s will. The Father’s response to Jesus’ prayer was revealed in John 19:30 when He said “It is finished” and He gave up His spirit. Jesus didn’t get a way out of the cross, but God strengthened Him to persevere through it so Jesus could fulfill what He came to do. Jesus’ prayer serves as a lesson for us that although earthly things are important, they don’t matter nearly as much as God’s redemptive plan for humanity. Therefore, when we pray, we should address our cares and needs and pray that God will take care of it in a manner that He approves of, and we should let that be our true source of peace. In Philippians 4:6-7, it says “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.” If the point of our prayer is to get what we want, we would have no confidence in it, as God’s will is wiser than our own. However, true confidence comes from knowing that He hears us (1 John 5:14), and He will make things work together for our good according to His purpose (Romans 8:28). We need to put our hope in God that when we don’t know the perfect path to get the things we need in our lives, God can be our light in the darkness to meet our needs in the way only He knows how.
~Caden Conley