Mark 3:35 “For whosoever shall do the will of God, the same is my brother, and my sister, and mother.”
In this verse, Jesus makes plain that those who are trully members of His family are those that also follow God’s Will, as He did. After all, Jesus numerous times said that He came to do the will of the Father. In the garden of Gethsemene He even prayed the words, “Not my will, but thine, be done.” The will of God was so important to Jesus that in this passage He did not receive the family members that came to visit Him. By inference, if those family members had come to see Jesus with the desire to accomplish or further God’s will, he would have received them in all sincereity. Therefore, they arrived with other motives.
The qualifying word in this verse is “do.” It is not enough to know the will of God. It is not enough to endlessly search for the wil of God. It is not enough to think you are doing the will of God. In order to have Christ, you must do THE will of God. When we do not do the will of God, or when we do other than the will of God, we ostracise ourselves from Christ. We exile ourselves from His presence and His fellowship.
Jesus was not the one that decided not to meet his family members that arrived that day, those family members had removed themselves from the fellowship of Christ long before that day. Did not Mary keep all the things she had experienced in her heart when, at 12 years old, Jesus was found in the Synagogue and made clear that the Will of the Father was the most important thing in His life? Did not his younger siblings witness His sinless life until He was about 30 years old? Those family members knew that Jesus valued the will of God more thn anything else, yet they were not busy about the Father’s business as He was.
Jesus will gladly receive all that we are DOING what God wills them to do. Anything else, and WE decide that our will is more valuable to us than Jesus’ presence in our life.
God always makes His will clear. We walk a path called straight, His word is a lamp to our feet and a light to our path. We are the ones who complicate the process. God will light the path clearly, but it is our decision to walk the path, to DO the Will of God. We complicate the process by trying to construe the will of God to fit our desires. We confuse the Will of God with how we wish to serve God. We wish to travel afar, arrive unannounced, and expect God to be pleased with our work in the flesh.
Every Christian knows the feeling of when God is calling us to His will, because it is the same feeling we felt on the day of salvation. It is clear, there’s no question about it. Every human also knows the sensation of wanting to do something out of the desire of self. The difference is that we have to justify our will, we are sensitive to people questioning our will, and we try to avoid bringing up our will. If God wills something to be done, there’s no doubt in your mind and there’s no power of Earth or Hell that can disuade you.
We just had a great meeting over the weekend. I know that the spirit may be zealous to do something, but that does not mean that God has willed it. If God says to do it, it will be clear. If God does not will it, that will also be clear. So often we “pray” for the will of God after He has said no, but what we are really doing is trying to change God’s mind. All of this is a way to make ourselves feel better about not DOING what we know God wants us to do.
Last week we wrote about strife, something that will kill revival. This week we write doing the Will of God, something that will kill revival. Both have something in common. Your actions (or inactions) do not just affect you, they affect the church as a whole. Don’t swallow camels and strain at gnats, listen to and follow the Spirit of God and God will lead you into all truth.
Your fellowservant in Christ,
-Bro. Jordan Foster
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