God's Will

This Sunday morning, our Sunday school class got into a discussion about God's will. It was kind of random, but it was good. On Wednesday, I am actually doing a Bible study on Living God's Will with at least one other guy. When it comes to knowing God's will, our feelings can get complicated. Ideas about knowing how to tell God's will are all over the place. I have always followed Psalm 37:4, Delight yourself also in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart." I think that is saying that if we are walking with God and following what the Bible tells us to do, we will be able to do whatever we want to do! It sounds much simpler than it plays out, but God wants us to work on our relationship with Him and the rest will play out. There are so many verses in the Bible that talk about what God's will in our lives is. Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul and mind and love your neighbor as yourself. That is enough to keep you busy for a while.
As we work on our relationship with Christ, God will guide us in those major "will of God" decisions that we must go through (like school, career, marriage and if you should just stop rooting for the Detroit Lions all together). God sends godly counselors our way to help us out with those decisions and He promises us wisdom if we ask for it (James 1:5).
God has called all of us to serve Him. I was going to say some part time and some full time, but really, we are all full time. At work we should be constantly serving Him, no matter if you are a Pastor, secretary, construction worker, painter, plumber or whatever. We are all to be a full time Christian. I count myself extremely blessed to serve Him and get paid for it! So if you are faced with a tough decision, be sure to be seeking God through prayer and Bible reading, seek godly counsel and then trust God to lead you to the right decision.

Love

I was just putting my baby to bed thinking about my love for her. I have always heard that your love for your spouse grows over the years, but I never imagined how much. Looking back to the beginning, I think about how I barely knew my wife compared to how well I know her now. I have always compared life to a roller coaster ride of ups and downs, and maybe love is like that for some, but I think that love is more like two mountains standing right next to each other. The first mountain is when you first get together. Some people start at the top of the mountain (you would call it love at first sight), and some people take a time of getting to know each other before they actually fall in love. But either way, around the engagement period or the time of marriage, or at some point, the couple is on the mountain top. The thoughts there generally or at this point I am talking about: My husband/wife can do no wrong. They are the best. We are so much in love, I can't believe it. It is a great feeling and you never want it to go away.
But then sometime after that you figure out there is something wrong with this person and that they are not the best. and..."you've lost that loving feeling, ohoohooooh, loving feeling..." Well, I don't want to say you totally lost it, but you certainly are not on the mountain top still and probably every couple experiences a different valley. Personally, I don't think that I experienced a huge valley or anything, I just realized how little I actually knew Sarah. I hadn't really known what I was getting into and I don't mean that in a bad way, just to say that you fall in love, act on it, but that is a different season in life.
So then your love starts to grow more and more (at least it should ideally). You start to know your spouse more and more and love them more and more. I know this isn't with everyone, but it has been with me. Some people even say that you eventually look more and more like your spouse. I know that many great marriages merge their humor, likes/dislikes, etc... And you love more and more.
I say all that to say that it is kind of like our love for God. We receive Christ as our Savior and we are on a mountain top. Everyone's journey to arrive at that point is different, but generally you are there. And then after a while, a fellow Christian does you wrong, or you get confused about the Trinity, or someone sits in your delegated seat at church and you realize that life after salvation is not perfect.
And some people drop off at that point (just like some marriages do too). Both are very unfortunate. But hopefully you keep on going and learning more and more about God and growing in your love for Him.
And eventually you get to the point where you are amazed at how much you love your spouse, or you are passionate in your love for your Savior. This is what we shoot for. And just for the record, this thought came into my mind tonight because of my incredibly awesome wife who I love so much more than I ever thought I would and who through her love for me has given me a tiny glimpse of what it means to be loved by the eternal God and our future spouse, God's Son, Jesus Christ.

The Perfect Person

I wonder what the perfect person would be like. Our thoughts on this topic show much about our lives. As I make this list of my perfect person, you will be able to see quite a bit into what makes me frustrated, what makes me happy, and why I click the way I do. For example, you will see dependability on my list. Why? Because I can't stand undependable people and so I try to be dependable.
The perfect person...

Loves all and condemns no one
Tries their hardest to have a non-biased view of the Bible, taking it for what it was meant to be
Follows the golden rule
Is kind to all
Patient, gentle, joyful (not a Debby-downer), merciful, considerate
Respects other opinions, but not afraid to share his when asked
Honest, even when it is hard or not convenient
Has good communication (prompt in their response)
Does not judge others by appearance
Dependable and reliable
Responsible
Frugal
Wise
Hard working
Tells others what they truly believe, rather than sugar coating everything (in other words, if there is something wrong with me, I would appreciate you telling me so that I can look into the mirror of God's Word and see if I need fixing)

So this list is more for me because I want to strive to be this person. (Because I want others to follow this list, I should follow the Golden Rule and try to be like this list). You may have to read that last sentence a couple of times for it to make sense. But basically I am striving to be perfect, although a knowledge of one's own imperfections should be added to the list as well. And I must include that we will never actually be perfect.
So what else can I add to that list, or what would your list include?