How Do We Make Godly Decisions?

In Christ we are given a new mind. Paul tells the church in Corinth, “For who has understood the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him?” But we have the mind of Christ” (1 Corinthians 2:16). Because of this new mind, you can understand the mind of the Lord. We can know God’s will. Think about that. God gives us a mind to understand his mind. He wants you to know his will. We are to resist conforming to this world, resist trusting the false promises of this world, and we are to be transformed by the renewal of our minds (see Romans 12:2). The very fact that we are given a new mind assures us that God is giving us what we need in order to understand his will. It's grace. It's love. It's mercy. Specifically, through salvation you have been given the mind of Christ. Specifically we can discern what theologians call, God's moral will.

Let's get real specific. This new mind or consciousness is awake to some new realities. These realities empower us discern, Paul says in Romans 12:2, what is good, acceptable, and perfect to God. Those new realities are God's Spirit, God's Word, and God's People. These are how we "test and discern" what God wants us to know and do. You see, when we are seeking to understand God's will, these are the places we're supposed to look for clarity and understanding. This is not what the world does. The world doesn’t teach us to do anything like this. The world tells us to look within, to the invisible and felt desires and impulses of hearts. But followers of Jesus look to the Spirit, his Word, and his people. Whether we are making a specific decision or we're simply learning to build our lives on the character of Christ … we should look to all three of these realities.

This is how we make godly decisions.

This is how we know God’s will.

God's Spirit helps us discern God's will. Jesus tells his disciples that after his ascension to the Father, "the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you" (John 14:26). Notice Jesus calls the Holy Spirit, "the Helper." That's who he is. That's what he does. The Spirit of God inhabits his people and helps them know and remember the will of God, or what Jesus has said. This is not his only role in our lives, but it is central. And it's more than a feeling. The Holy Spirit is not a feeling. The Holy Spirit is God. We ask him for help. Is there sin in my life? Is there truth I'm forgetting? What is good, acceptable, and perfect? Am I seeing things clearly? Am I operating out of love or fear? As we seek the Spirit's guidance he directs us to the truth and beauty of Jesus. He does not validate your hunches. He is not a spiritual escape clause from holiness. God's Spirit helps us discern God's will by reminding us of who God is, who we are, and what he has said.

God's Word helps us discern God's will. The word helps us by exposing us and exposing the gospel. In fact, like the Spirit we're told the word is meant to dwell in us. John describes the word as light, a light which tells the truth about us and the truth about God. "This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all ... If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us" (1 John 1:5,10). That's how the will of God works through the word. It exposes the brilliance of God. It exposes the sinfulness of people. But as God's will and our will are exposes, the word points us to Jesus ... the one who forgives, heals, restores, and empowers us to know and obey his will. To discern God's will then, we open our Bibles. And we ask questions. As we make decisions ... as we build our lives ... How does God's word expose sin in my life? How does God's word speak beauty and truth? How does it point me to trust Christ and walk in his light? God's word helps us discern God's will by exposing us and exposing the gospel. It explicitly tells us what is good, acceptable, and perfect. And when it doesn’t, it builds our character. And when we fall short, the word of grace is extended to us.

God's People help us discern God's will. Theologian Marva Dawn notes, "one terribly overlooked aspect of testing and approving the will of God is that we do that within the framework of Christian community and not alone" (Truly the Community, 53). Too many of us, too often make decision in isolation. We are made for community and knowing God and his will with God's people. Think about 1 Corinthians 12:7-12. Paul is teaching his readers about their union with one another, through the Spirit. He writes, "To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. For to one is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom, and to another the utterance of knowledge according to the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit, to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another the ability to distinguish between spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. All these are empowered by one and the same Spirit, who apportions to each one individually as he wills. For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ" (1 Corinthians 12:7-12). We've all be given different insight and understanding by God's Spirit ... but it's not just for us. It's for the common good. The good of your church family. Members of one body. And so once we've heeded the instruction of God's Spirit and God's Word, we go to God's People and ask for their insight and help. Do your brothers and sisters agree or disagree? Do they see God's word or sense God's Spirit differently? What do they uniquely contribute to your understanding and application of God's Word? God's people help us discern God's will by using their gifts for the good of all. The primary responsibility of God's people in determining God's will is to make sure Gods' Spirit and God's Word have been heard and heeded appropriately …. Not inserting their personal opinions. But this is not about conformity to a social ideology. If God's Word and God's Spirit have been humbly consulted then God's People celebrate freedom and diversity we have in Christ to apply God's will differently.

When St. Augustine, the North African theologian, was preaching from 1 John 4 he centered God's will upon love. He told his listeners, “Love God and do whatever you please: for the soul trained in love to God will do nothing to offend the One who is Beloved.” God's will is all about love. God's will invites us to love him. Obeying God's will is ultimately about our love for him and his purposes and desires over and against our own desires and the desires of our world (see Galatians 5:14). Over and against fear. And so, with Augustine I invite you … whatever decision you make about whatever, look to the Spirit, his Word, and his people … and then ... love God, and do whatever you please.