By Michael Kelley

What is God’s will for my life?

It’s a question that can cause you a lot of angst, because most of the time we ask that question at a time of significant crossroad – when you are confronted with a life-altering decision. These are decisions about careers, about family, about moving – the big moments in life, and if you’re a Christian, this is the right question to ask. And yet there are two significant problems we will face when asking that question.

The first problem is that much as we want to, we won’t generally have the kind of watershed moment we are looking for. That is, we won’t find the answer written in our Alphabits, or spelled out in skywriting in the clouds, or just turning blindly to a page in the Bible. You will not find the name of the college you are supposed to attend or the name of the person you are going to marry in the pages of Scripture, much as we might want to, and much as it might be a very simple way forward.

The second problem is deeper than though. The second problem is that we typically look at the will of God in a different way than God Himself looks at it. Think again about the moments in life when we are most prone to ask that question – these are moments of big decisions. Of choosing this way or that way. You might say that we tend to ask that question in response to “destination” kinds of issues.

And therein lies the problem, because when we open the Bible, we find that when it comes to His will, God is generally more interested in who you’re becoming than where you’re going. This is not a question of destination; it is a question of formation. 

If we were able to change our perspective and ask that question again, we would see that the answer is very simple, and also very consistent: What is God’s will for my life? Well, God’s will for your life is the same thing that it is for my life – to become more like Jesus. Always. And this is precisely why God is with us by His Spirit - to make us more like Jesus:

Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit (2 Cor. 3:17-18).

Now if that is true, it also brings a good deal of perspective to whatever it is that you might be walking through at a given moment, especially if those circumstances are causing you to wonder just what it is that God is doing.

That is to say, you might find yourself in a set of circumstances in which you haven’t stopped believing that God is in control; you haven’t stopped believing that God loves you; you haven’t stopped believing that He is involved in the affairs of your life; and yet you are very, very confused.

But because God is with us by His Spirit, you may not know a lot of answers, but one thing you can say regardless of any circumstance, no matter how confusing - the answer to the question, “What is God doing?” is always, “He’s making me more like Jesus.”

Michael Kelley is a husband, father of three, author, and speaker from Nashville, TN. His latest book is a year-long family devotional guide called The Whole Story for the Whole Family. Find his personal blog at michaelkelley.co.