Question

SurrenderedCyster · 09-09-2006, 06:23 AM

How can you love 'your' God, and still do your own will?

Why is it that when you love God so much, you still insist on doing your own will??

Was thinking about this earlier, and wanted to post it.

DiamondInTheRough · 09-09-2006, 03:50 PM

By "personal will" do you mean deliberately going against the will of God? If that is the question, I'm sure God would like to know what we have to say as well...

As far as I see things as a Muslim, we were given the Final scripture, the Qur'an, as well as the "Sunnah" or Prophetic tradition of God's final prophet. Those are our guides on how to live, and how to guide our "personal will".

Of course no one is perfect, and we will make mistakes, and yes at times, people will knowingly go against a commandment of God against their better judgement, i.e. sin. But we also have the option of repenting and gaining God's forgiveness.

I guess it depends on the level of sincerity of faith a person has, something only God can truly measure. We can say we have faith in God, but when put to the test, do we really surrender all to Him? We all face adversity and hardship, as well as joy and success in our lives - it's those high's and low's that bring out the raw depth or shallowness of our faith.

jennynd · 09-09-2006, 05:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SurrenderedCyster

How can you love 'your' God, and still do your own will?

You don't. If you believe you have 'your own will' then essentially this means that you have a plan that you think is better than God's. I think if you truly love your God then you believe that He knows better than you what is best for you ~ His will is always better than yours. Of course, this doesn't mean that we are miserable because we can't do anything for ourselves. First of all, we should be getting joy out of trying to follow God's will if we say we truly love Him. Second, God's will isn't always contrary to what we want in life. Many of the things that we want for our lives are what God wants to.

Knowing what God wants for us can be difficult, & we do make mistakes as the ^ pp said, but I think the key is that we try to live first of all for God. If we are self-serving, always choosing our wants & needs over God's, then we can't truly love God.

This is one of my favorite passages from the Bible:
"...it is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me." Galations 2:20

SurrenderedCyster · 09-10-2006, 04:47 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DiamondInTheRough

By "personal will" do you mean deliberately going against the will of God?
it's those high's and low's that bring out the raw depth or shallowness of our faith.

I agree on the ^in bold! That is fantastic.

Going against the will of God - No. I mean, that, by faith, and by the Word of God, I know that my will goes my way, rather then His way.

I can't do His will my way. Kwim?

What God would have for me. Ie; smoking cigarettes, Addictions to self - pity, offense, nicotine, etc., worrying, not trusting Him, the list could go on.
I repent in prayer, but I go and do what I repent for over and over, ie; get angry at someone, make a snide remark, get self - centered and selfish, pout, and forget how truly blessed I am.
jenny - this brings up "free will", and we have it right?
So, this is kind of what I'm talking about.
Right - may of the things we wanmt in life or from life - God wants for us too. But also, many thigns that we want, is not what God wants for us, and knows we don't need it, so finding that trsut in Him, has been difficult for me personally - to know He does know better. My knowledge has gotten me nowhere and nowhere fast.
Galations 2:20 - yep!

Did I make sense? I hope so?

DiamondInTheRough · 09-10-2006, 05:49 AM

Surrendered,

According to my belief, God never promised us that this life would be free of temptation or that things wouldn't exist that would lead us astray. Actually, He tells us plainly that those things exist.

I know the whole concept of free will is difficult to understand. I struggled with it before as well. I realized as far as this life-time in concerned, it isn't really about knowing what God has Written/Planned for me - but to find a balance between what He has left for me to guide my life with, and my own "personal" or "free" will. Afterall, how can any of us truly know God's Plan for us is until we've met Him?

But I don't think you are really talking about free will. Free will is about making choices, and this doesn't always lead to the wrong choices, right? I think what you are talking about is a more basic concept of surrendering to oneself, rather then God. It's the baser desire that we all have within ourselves. That self-indulging desire which we hope will be overcome by our innate nature of knowing right from wrong.

So I really believe the greatest struggle most of us face comes from within. Once we are able to recognize those self-serving characteristics, we'll be on to something, lol! I reckon it takes a life time to get through that sort of test

SurrenderedCyster · 09-10-2006, 06:20 AM

Thank you so much! Well said! Temptations--right--look at Adam and Eve
Self - serving characteristics.....that's what I'm talkin' about, instant gratification---I want it yesterday
Right - surrendering to oneself, not getting what we want now, or doing what we want now, just because we want it now---see how selfish that is? me me me me me me
And I'm talking about addictions, temptations (which I agree 110% with what you said), offense, anger, and more!

Thanks so much

Tusi2 · 10-04-2006, 09:07 AM

Surrendered,

I agree with a lot of what's been posted here. We do have free will, it's a God given gift, no one is forced to submit to God's will. We are imperfect (thanks Adam & Eve), but our way past that is forgiveness on the basis of Jesus' shed blood. We are also in the "last days" 2 Tim 3:1-5 and Satan is shown to be the ruler of this world 1 John 5:19; Eph. 2:2 so his influence is everywhere and contradictory to God's will and he tries us out by our own desires.
So we are inclined by our own sinful tendencies, then the spirit of this world plays on that, which makes it even harder to "walk the line" and makes us even more reliant on God. It's not wrong to ask about these things, it's much better than not even worrying about it!! Just remember the example of the apostle Paul esp. in Romans 7 particularly vs.21-25.

toriamae · 10-04-2006, 06:47 PM

In my view, the extent to which we do God's will shows our love for Him.
John 14:15: "If ye love me keep my commandments" right?

It's a question of the development of the relationship, similar to the development of our human relationships.
When a couple is first dating, they may begin to feel love for eachother, but it's not the same as the love that can develop over the course of a life time as they serve and sacrafice for one another; as the relationship grows in depth, knowledge, and trust.
Similarly, when we first come to know God, "We love him because He loved us first" but it isn't the same as the love that we develop over the course of a lifetime of service and sacrafice.
It's difficult for me at times to sacrafice my will to His. But in the times that I have, my faith and trust have increased and thus my love for Him. Because when I make His will my own, I have seen His plan and His love for me. I've learned that He really is watching out for me and sees the end from the beginning.
And while I don't profess to be perfect (indeed I am far from it!) I will say that trusting His will has brought me closer to Him and does help me navigate my life in these end times days. The more I do His will, the more I want to do His will and the less appealing other options are.
To me, that is what it means to love God: to trust Him and His will.

All the best,

Tori

SurrenderedCyster · 10-04-2006, 11:00 PM

Thanks so much cysters, all well said

((hugs))