Two of my sophomores lost their dad last night. I guess it was pretty quick. I guess it was a siezure and shutting down of organs. It happened fast. I got a call at 10pm. The next morning I found out he had died at 12 midnight. So while I was on the phone listening to my messages about a father of two of my students at 10pm, he had only two hours left on earth. In my class I am teaching about God's will for our lives. Most people do not know God's will for their lives because they want to just know his specific will for their lives like, who do I marry, what job do I take, what college do I go to, should I have more kids. I do not think God cares, I think he wants us to pick, I mean if we are seeking him first, His general will that is, if we know and strive for his general will, I think he wants us to pick our specific will, give us the desires of our hearts. But we do not want to take the time to learn what His general will is, we just want specific, we just want selfishness, it is all about me. God's primary general will is found throughout the Bible, it is the same for me as it is for you. It is God's general will that we all know Him. Now we all will not know Him because some will choose His pursuing and others will reject Him, but this is the will of God that none should perish but have everlasting life, (Timothy). You can then find general wills like "it is God'e will that we are living sacrifices" (Romans) That we proclaim what he has done for us, we worship Him, Also, that we are sanctified and that we recognize that we are are in a process of sanctification, and that in the process we will face battles with sexual immorality, but that we should abstain (Thessalonians)
So you get the idea. Anyway I was thinking about funerals, all different kinds of them, Christian, methodist, Catholic, non religious, you know you have been there. I started thinking about how at a non- christian funeral I always seem to hear alot about the person, alot about what they have been doing, like what a good person they were, and "she was a saint", anyway at the end of all of them there is like this awkward statement like "And we trust and pray, or and we hope and pray that we will see them someday again" as if there is a chance that they do not know where the person is. And honestly they do not. The Christian funerals as you know are different. The service is centered around God and Christ and not the person, they know where the person is not because of what the person has been doing for the past 40 years, but because of Christ. And it is a celebration to some extent.
I started thinking about my students dad that died and how he presumably new the Lord. I started thinking about God's general will for our llives is that we know Him, and how that is what I think that you are thinking about right before you die. I doubt you are thinking about your car or your money, or even your family, but whether or not you understood and have accepted God's general will for your life. It is not a coincidence that before you die, in your last thoughts you are thinking about, (probably) what God's general will is for your life, the question is are you thinking about it with comfort because you have accepted it or are you thinking about it because it is too late...
1 comment:
hey man, i remember your talk, on the retreat in texas, and you talked about the general and specific will of our lives. i think you are so right on, because when i am close to God (i.e. seeking his general will) i feel so much more freedom to make choices, knowing that, through prayer and contemplation, if i'm seeking God first the decision will come out as his will would have it anyway.
this is something i am struggling a lot with right now, the general and specific stuff. i am more worried about certain things than pursuing God in the broader sense, but it's been hard. like on of my recent posts talked about, i haven't really found like-minded people; it's made things really tough. your post is exactly what i needed to hear.
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