Christians talk a lot about God’s will. We seek to know God’s will, we try to do God’s will, and many of our prayers conclude with, “Thy will be done.”
Theoretically, most Christians accept the idea that mankind is flawed. As St. Paul wrote, “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” Therefore, we would agree that, generally speaking, God’s will for our lives is much better than our own will for our lives.
But when we shift from the theoretical to the personal, when we stop talking in broad terms about God’s will vs. mankind’s will, it gets much more difficult. When we honestly confront the question, “What is God’s will for ME — right here, right now?” we find that major conflicts arise.
The reason is simple: God’s will is almost always much tougher to do than our will. It requires more effort, more discipline, and it yields much less instant gratification. Most unpleasant of all, doing God’s will requires us to abdicate our position as the center of the universe (at least in our own minds). We have to put God at the center of the universe and direct our attention toward him, rather than sit on our little imaginary thrones and expect others to direct their attention toward us.
This is why so many otherwise sincere Christians go to such lengths to convince themselves that they are really doing God’s will, even if it’s glaringly obvious to everyone around them that they are not.
Now that it’s just days away from Christmas, we can ponder once again the most courageous, selfless act of submitting to God’s will in the history of mankind — except, of course, for Jesus’ submitting to the Father’s will and offering up his life to pay the price for our sin.
This is the time of year when we hear the amazing story of the Annunciation, that miraculous moment in history when the angel Gabriel appeared to Mary and announced that she had been chosen to be the mother of the incarnate Son of God.
The reason is simple: God’s will is almost always much tougher to do than our will. It requires more effort, more discipline, and it yields much less instant gratification. Most unpleasant of all, doing God’s will requires us to abdicate our position as the center of the universe (at least in our own minds). We have to put God at the center of the universe and direct our attention toward him, rather than sit on our little imaginary thrones and expect others to direct their attention toward us.
This is why so many otherwise sincere Christians go to such lengths to convince themselves that they are really doing God’s will, even if it’s glaringly obvious to everyone around them that they are not.
Now that it’s just days away from Christmas, we can ponder once again the most courageous, selfless act of submitting to God’s will in the history of mankind — except, of course, for Jesus’ submitting to the Father’s will and offering up his life to pay the price for our sin.
This is the time of year when we hear the amazing story of the Annunciation, that miraculous moment in history when the angel Gabriel appeared to Mary and announced that she had been chosen to be the mother of the incarnate Son of God.
During the Annunciation, the angel told Mary that her offspring would be a holy and powerful leader who would rule over all Israel. Not bad. But there was one slight problem. Mary was not married yet, and she was a virgin. She asked the angel, “How can this be, since I have no relations with a man?”
Certainly Mary was puzzled about the “how” of her getting pregnant. But she probably was equally as confused about the “why” of it. Why me? Why now? Why this way? And no doubt she also was very concerned about what would happen when the rest of the community found out an unmarried girl was pregnant. Her family would be scandalized, Joseph would never believe her explanation, and the villagers would be more than happy to gather up stones and mete out a little bone-crushing justice.
No matter how you slice it, Mary was in a bind. But she never once hesitated or requested that God find someone else for the job. She immediately said, “I am the handmaid of the Lord. May it be done to me according to your word.”
Certainly Mary was puzzled about the “how” of her getting pregnant. But she probably was equally as confused about the “why” of it. Why me? Why now? Why this way? And no doubt she also was very concerned about what would happen when the rest of the community found out an unmarried girl was pregnant. Her family would be scandalized, Joseph would never believe her explanation, and the villagers would be more than happy to gather up stones and mete out a little bone-crushing justice.
No matter how you slice it, Mary was in a bind. But she never once hesitated or requested that God find someone else for the job. She immediately said, “I am the handmaid of the Lord. May it be done to me according to your word.”
What amazing courage. What perfect submission. Mary was focused totally on doing God’s will rather than her own will, even though following her own self-centered, personal will would’ve been the easy way out. By the way, we should note a couple of important things. First, since Mary was conceived without original sin (as Catholic doctrine teaches), her personal will most likely was not self-centered. Second, she definitely had the freedom to say no to Gabriel. Some folks think she had no choice here, but God would never force someone to do something like this.
So, Mary’s submission to God’s will should be a shining example for us all. Submitting to God’s will is difficult, but in the grand scheme of things, it is by far the best course of action. When we pray, “Thy will be done,” we really have to mean it.
So, Mary’s submission to God’s will should be a shining example for us all. Submitting to God’s will is difficult, but in the grand scheme of things, it is by far the best course of action. When we pray, “Thy will be done,” we really have to mean it.
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