How do I know if I’m doing what God wants me to do?
Question:
How do I know if what I am doing is what God wants me to do? I don't know if I should do what I want to do or what others want me to do. Above all, I don't know if what I am doing is right or wrong. How do I find out?
Answer:
"Now by this we know that we know Him, if we keep His commandments. He who says, "I know Him," and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But whoever keeps His word, truly the love of God is perfected in him. By this we know that we are in Him. He who says he abides in Him ought himself also to walk just as He walked" (I John 2:3-6).
The answer to your question is neither what you want or what others want you to do. The one way to know what you ought to do is to see what God has told you to do. You are doing right when you are obeying God's commandments and doing wrong when you are breaking them.
That means you can't take the lazy way out and let other people tell you what to do. You have to pick up your Bible and read God's instruction manual for yourself. "Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth" (II Timothy 2:15). There are going to be parts that are hard to understand and parts that will be easy. When you find a difficult section, you ask more experienced people to help you understand it.
God has not left knowing what to do to guesswork. "All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work" (II Timothy 3:16-17).
