By Ann Weaver.
“Are you doing God’s will right now?”
This question was raised at the church home group my family goes to, while we were discussing that morning’s sermon.
The question made everyone listen attentively as the man continued his thoughts. He outlined this: what if we had a checklist for whether we were doing God’s will during each hour of the day? How would we score?
It sounds straightforward, at first. Say you spend eight hours at night, sleeping. That is doing God’s will, resting and caring for your body. Then you spend four hours doing schoolwork, an hour doing chores, and another hour watching one of your younger siblings as mom takes a nap, all with a good attitude. That would be a lot of hours with a checkmark by its side.
Perhaps you get angry at a sibling a little later, and that accounts for a bad mark. But at least it’s only one, right? You’ve done pretty well all the other hours- or so you think.
But what if you spend an hour scrolling Pinterest that day? Texting one of your friends non-stop? Listening to music in your room when you could’ve been doing something else? What kind of score does that give you?
It gives you an “alright” score, right? You weren’t doing anything bad, or stupid, or dishonorable during those times.
Well… it’s not quite that simple.
In reality, you’re either doing God’s will or not. There is no in-between. There’s not a check mark, a cross-off, and a “kind of” mark. It’s a yes or no question. Do you really think God’s going to give you a pass just because you selfishly wanted to have time to yourself, or you were having a bad day and just “happened” to snap at your sibling? No. Because laziness is not doing God’s will.
Now, I am not against enjoying yourself or taking a break, nor against any kind of honest recreation. (And neither is the man who asked the question in the beginning, I should add.) But doing something else when you could be actively doing God’s will in something is actually not doing His will.
Recharging your mental or physical body or taking part in recreation is not wrong. But we should never allow our rest to become excessive. When we allow too much of it, it can easily turn into laziness and boredom- neither of which are part of God’s will. Both can easily lead to sinful thoughts or pursuits. However, overwork is also not His will, as we are to care for our bodies as “a living and holy temple of the Holy Spirit.”
What exactly is His will for you? I can’t say specifically. The Lord wants us to follow Him, honor our parents, and be kind to others, but that’s a broad spectrum. The best ways to learn His will for you are to read His Word, pray, and seek His guidance in everything- every hour of the day.
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