Welcome to the Becoming blog

Becoming: Okay

Why the word okay? Well in my life when I have truly been willing to follow God my answer to His prompting always comes out as “Okay!.”

This week we looked at David's life and the multitude of moments when he responded to God with an "okay." David was faithful in his response whether it was accepting God's timing in making him king, respecting Saul's position even while trying to kill him or God's discipline in the midst of David's sinful acts. In the end David's character is revealed in trusting God's timing and plan for his life.

To take things a little further, I think that there are two important questions that we need to tackle in the midst of talking about Godly character in this area. First, how does becoming “okay” reveal a Godly character? Secondly, (and most importantly as a follower of Christ) does Jesus life exemplify this?

One of my favorite and most used tools in Godly decision making comes from a guy by the name of George Mueller. (You can find a wikipedia article about him here) Mueller came up with several thoughts on how to find the will of God; the first being this:
I seek at the beginning to get my heart into such a state that it has no will of its own in regard to a given matter. Nine-tenths of the trouble with people generally is just here. Nine-tenths of the difficulties are overcome when our hearts are ready to do the LORD's will, whatever it may be. When one is truly in this state, it is usually but a little way to the knowledge of what His will is.
(check out his book “Answers to Prayer” for more)

I don’t know about you but I find that statement extremely profound and applicable. What he’s saying here, is that first and foremost, we will never be able to become the person that God has called us to be, or do what he is calling us to do, until we can honestly say to him, "okay". Now I don’t personally believe that it always has to be an upbeat, overly happy, “okay”. God doesn't like brown nosers! There are times that our responses to God are mixed up in getting over what we want. I think that he understands and allows us some grace in our response as we mature. Some of the most faithful men and women that I have encountered in God’s kingdom have been called to actions and places that weren’t on their agenda and that they to this day wouldn’t have necessarily picked themselves. Their character led them to act and live faithfully however by responding positively to God's leading no matter what.
If you want to talk about scripture, I don’t think that Hosea would have picked a prostitute to marry (check out the book of Hosea in the Old Testament for this guys wild ride...talk about saying okay!) or that Jesus really wanted to go to the cross if there was another way. Both men however responded to God with an okay. Their character led them to acting and living faithfully.

Godly character will lead us to respond to God's leading with an "okay" whether we like where He is leading us to or not. By submitting to God's will instead of our own we prove that his is more important. By trusting God's lead when things don't make sense we live in faithfulness. Our response to God's timing and plan reveals the true state of our relationship with him.

That leaves question number two. Did Jesus live this concept out? Did he respond to God with an okay?
I already mentioned one of the most visible acts of acceptance of God’s will over his own in the Garden of Gethsemane. I think sometimes we paint Jesus’ moments leading up to his sacrifice as almost stoic. In reality Jesus spent time with God just before his arrest petitioning God on both his own behalf and ours.
We find the account in Mark 14.

32 They went to a place called Gethsemane, and Jesus said to his disciples, "Sit here while I pray." 33 He took Peter, James and John along with him, and he began to be deeply distressed and troubled. 34 "My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death," he said to them. "Stay here and keep watch." 35 Going a little farther, he fell to the ground and prayed that if possible the hour might pass from him. 36 "Abba, Father," he said, "everything is possible for you. Take this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will." Mark 14:32-36 (NIV)

It says that he actually prayed this several times. Clearly he was hoping for another way. (I have met some immature Christ-followers who reject this idea, as it doesn't fit in to a health/wealth view of God's care) Scripture is pretty clear in describing him as “troubled” and “distressed.” He outright asks God for another way for our salvation to occur in verse 36. While that is what he asks for his character is revealed in that last phrase, “Yet not what I will, but what you will." That was Jesus’ “okay” to God. That statement reveals to us that his heart was ready to accept whatever God was calling him to. It wasn't wrong to ask, it just would have been wrong not to be ready to accept God's answer and act on it.
When Jesus taught his disciples to pray in Matthew 6 he told them to pray that God’s Will would be done (v.10). Why? In everything that Jesus did, both action and word, he claimed to only be doing what his Father was showing and telling him to say and do. Every action and word was done in submission to the will of God. Jesus lived faithfully because he continually sought out God’s will for his life and replied, “okay.”

My question then for you is what are you becoming and what do you want to become?
If you're truly committed to becoming Godly in your character, then ask God this week to work on your character in helping you to become content in His will. Before you do however I want to warn you that your life will change dramatically. It may be a tough, wild ride. In asking him to help you trust him you may end up working through things that you could never imagine and in places that you thought you'd never be. The only promise is that you will experience God's love and care in measures that you didn't previously know existed.

Below are a few questions to help you process through this weeks lesson.

On a scale of 1 - 10 rate your heart-state to this statement:
I am willing to accept God's leading no matter what.

Does your head or your heart or your faith lead your responses?

What is God calling you to become right now?

What is God seeking a response from you in?

What could God ask of you that you would respond “no” to?