by Ethan R. Longhenry<\/p>\n
“For this is God’s will: that you become holy<\/em>” (I Thessalonians 4:3)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Many people agonize over this question: what is God’s will for my life? They imagine God has a specific intention for them to live in a specific place, be with a specific person, have a specific career or job, etc.<\/p>\n
Paul identified God’s will for the Thessalonian Christians as he framed his exhortation: their sanctification, that they become holy. Such is God’s will for each and every one of us: to walk so as to please God, separated out for His purposes. God does not expect us to consider our lives as the ultimate scavenger hunt for which He provides few if any hints. We should not ask what God’s will is for our lives to such specificity; instead, we should consider how we can best glorify God in the decisions we are called upon to make.<\/p>\n
What is God’s will for our lives? How can we glorify God in our decisions?<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
by Ethan R. Longhenry “For this is God’s will: that you become holy” (I Thessalonians 4:3) Many people agonize over this question: what is God’s will for my life? They imagine God has a specific intention for them to live in a specific place, be with a specific person, have a specific career or job,…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[763,41],"class_list":["post-61191","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article","tag-decisions","tag-life"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":21147,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/what-is-gods-will-for-me-part-1-what-is-being-taught\/","url_meta":{"origin":61191,"position":0},"title":"What Is God\u2019s Will for Me? Part 1: What Is Being Taught","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"June 5, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jeffrey W. Hamilton Text: Ephesians 1:15-23 \u00a0 I.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0How do you know what God wants you to do? \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Not regarding moral decisions, but regarding the choices we often face in which neither choice is actually wrong. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a01.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u201cWhich college should I attend?\u201d \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a02.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u201cShould I ask her to marry me?\u201d \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a03.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u201cShould I\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Audio"","block_context":{"text":"Audio","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/audio\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":41975,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/is-gods-will-for-me-limited-to-specific-things-or-all-my-life\/","url_meta":{"origin":61191,"position":1},"title":"Is God’s will for me limited to specific things or all my life?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 26, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Is God's will for me limited on specific things (with examples)\u00a0or on all my life? Can I change God's will by my actions? Answer: \"He has shown you, O man, what is good; and what does the LORD require of you but to do justly, to love mercy, and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":19087,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/if-a-person-doesnt-follow-gods-specific-will-for-his-life-hell-end-up-in-hell-how-can-you-teach-otherwise\/","url_meta":{"origin":61191,"position":2},"title":"If a person doesn’t follow God’s specific will for his life, he’ll end up in hell. How can you teach otherwise?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"June 8, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I must question your answer in \"How will I know that this is the girl God wants me to marry?\"\u00a0 The Bible is remarkably clear that God has an intricate plan for our life, which includes specifics such as which college to attend, whom to marry, where to live,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":7107,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/the-holy-spirits-work\/","url_meta":{"origin":61191,"position":3},"title":"The Holy Spirit’s Work","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 5, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"I.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0We have noted that the third person in the Trinity, the Holy Spirit, is often misunderstood. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0People have let the imaginations run wild in regard to who the Spirit is and especially in how He operates. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0B.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Many of the incorrect beliefs are based on phrases found in the Bible, taken\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Sermon"","block_context":{"text":"Sermon","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/sermon\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":35480,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/does-god-have-an-ordained-and-permissive-will\/","url_meta":{"origin":61191,"position":4},"title":"Does God have an ordained and permissive will?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 23, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Like many times in the past few years, I was lost as to God's will for my life. So I typed into Google: God what do you want me to do? Stay where I am or move? I have been out of work for several years and my money\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":57846,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/does-god-direct-our-lives\/","url_meta":{"origin":61191,"position":5},"title":"Does God direct our lives?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 13, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I have appreciated your website and the answers you share from the truth of God's word.\u00a0 I thought maybe you could help me with this: A friend is telling me that God reveals things to us about what to do about jobs, health, etc. In the sense that God\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61191","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=61191"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61191\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=61191"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=61191"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=61191"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}