Saturday, May 25, 2013


FINDING THE WILL OF GOD

Many in contemporary Christianity express a desire to "live in the center of God's will" and talk much about "finding God's will for your life" but often have not really considered what that means.  Too often, I fear, we confuse our will with God's will. If we really want to live in the center of God's will the saints teach us what it means.
St. Silouan tells us: "When the soul has given herself up to the will of God, the mind contains nothing but God, and the souls stands before God with a pure mind."
We might ask ourselves, "What is the will of God?" This is a good question, especially considering that several times each day, in the Lord's Prayer, we pray, "Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven."
The following excerpt from St. Cyprian of Carthage answers the question of God's will, and gives us instruction on how to truly live "in Christ."
"After that, we add: "Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven" – not so that God may do what He wants, but that we may be able to do what He wants. For who could hinder God from doing whatever He wishes? But because the devil keeps us from always obeying God in thought and act, we plead that God's will be done in us. For this, we need His good will – in other words, His help and protection; for no one is strong enough of himself, but is secure through divine grace and mercy…
Now the will of God is precisely what Christ both did and taught. It entails being humble in our life-style, steadfast in our faith, modest in our words, just in our actions, merciful in our dealings, disciplined in our conduct, incapable of inflicting a wrong but able of bearing one inflicted on us; keeping peace with our brothers; loving God with all our heart; cherishing Him as Father while fearing Him as God; putting absolutely nothing before Christ, since He put nothing before us; clinging tenaciously to His love; standing, brave and confident, by His cross; and whenever His name and honor are involved, displaying in our speech the constancy to confess Him, under torture the courage to fight for Him, and in death the patience for which we shall be crowned. This is what it means to want to be co-heirs with Christ; this is what it means to carry out the commands of God; this is what it means to do the Father's will…
And therefore, we pray daily – or, rather, continually – that God's will for us be done, both in heaven and on earth, because this is His will: that earthly things should give way to heavenly ones and that spiritual and divine realities should prevail."
Let us heed St. Cyprian's teaching. We can follow them closely by using the above each evening as a help to review our day, remembering our sinful actions and thoughts. Then, let us beg our merciful Lord forgiveness and strength to continue. Our measure toward holiness is our repentance.

Fr. Sergius