We, all humans, are image-bearers of God, our Creator. When we come to know Him….
- through His Word,
- by His Spirit,
- by knowledge of and relationship with His Incarnation in His Son, Jesus Christ,
- through community among His people,and
- in the circumstances He allows that instruct us
……one may then become a true Child of God, knowing God’s presence, goodness, sovereignty, and delight in giving us good things.
We are able to see and enjoy those good things, as well as recognize and reject the tinny and tawdry counterfeits and distractions of the enemy.
A wise pastor once told me….”God gave us freewill and we have the agency to exercise it. The good news is that God will give you what you want. The bad news is that God will give you what you want.” The way I read that is that I need to be careful what I set my heart on. If it is not in alignment with the desires of God’s heart, I may find myself with one of those counterfeits or distractions……. The human heart is, above all things, deceitful until it is shaped by and conformed to that of its Creator.
It seems that a wise strategy is not so much to ask, “What would Jesus do?(WWJD)”, but rather, to ask, “What does God desire?” One can be sure that Jesus was asking that question himself as he knelt in Gethsemane and that he was fully devoted to fulfilling the Father’s will, not his own.