n the news I occasionally hear stories of people who claim God instructed them to do some horrific act that is contrary to His law and what He has revealed to us in His Word. On that same note, while at the Shepherd's Conference, I took a class on Church discipline in which the elders at Grace talked about how often they have married men and women claim that God's will for them was that they leave their husband or wife to pursue a relationship with another person. I had a friend (now former) who started dating a married man, and she claimed that it was God's will that this sin occur otherwise God would not have allowed them to meet. As absurd as that sounds, I am sure there are many other so-called Christians out there rationalizing and justifying their sin in similar ways. Using that same logic...if I was offered some crack, does that mean that God's will for me is that I become a crack head? Any Christian with half a brain should know these things obviously do not harmonize with the Word of God, so how is it that so many Christians have such a skewed view of what God's will truly is? I believe the number one reason why people have absolutely no clue what God's will for them is that they are not in the least bit familiar with Scripture. In the epistle to the Romans, Paul tells us how we can know the will of God, saying...

Romans 12:1-2
"Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect

So...by default, our minds become fashioned after and adapted to the external,
superficial customs of this world system. The Greek verb "conformed" is in the passive tense, which means this progressive downward spiral of sinful thinking which, of course, leads to sinful actions (James 1:14-15) happens to us regardless of our opinion or will in the matter. We will be indistinguishable from the fallen world without the transforming power of God's Word. Scripture alone transforms and renews our minds into Christ-likeness, which arms us with the wisdom to know that certain situations and circumstances will arise, but they are trials and temptations, and through a knowledge of God's Word we should see them for what they truly are and cling to the solid rock of Christ so as to become victorious through Him. I think its so interesting that the Greek word for "transform" is where we get our English word "metamorphosis" from. Just as a caterpillar is made into a beautiful butterfly, we too through the miraculous Word of God are made into awesome new creatures with godly new desires that can, and only then, please our Creator. One of those new desires should be a hunger and thirst for His righteousness. We should long to know who God truly is and as I have said time and time again, we can not know that apart from yearning to know what God has revealed to us through His Word. This is why Peter says...

"like newborn babies, long for the pure milk of the word, so that by it you may grow in respect to salvation" - 1 Peter 2:2

I recently became a father and seeing how often a child needs to be fed really made this verse hit home all the more. My son, like any other new born baby, would wither and die off without being fed every few hours, and we to will wither and die spiritually if we neglect to feed on the pure milk of the Word of God. I am sure this is why the hymn writer wrote "I need Thee every hour, teach me Thy will" Which brings us back to the verse in Romans. We can not claim to know God's will if we are not constantly feeding ourselves with His Word (Matt 4:4). Before you speak presumptuously of God and say that His will is this or that for your life, ask yourself if you have been transformed by the renewing power of His Word. Examine yourself to see if you are so intimately familiar with Scripture that you are sure that what you are about to do does not violate the Law of God. It is only through a constant diet of God's Word that we will know His good and perfect will.

However, do not forget that having a mere head knowledge of Scripture will lead to a cold orthodoxy if it is not accompanied with charitable love (Rev 2:2-5). That is exactly why Paul ties together our minds being transformed with how we ought to be presenting ourselves as living sacrifices. We should be continually denying ourselves to the point of death (Luke 9:23; Phil 2:5-11), giving ourselves wholly to God, so as to put aside our desires, and crawling upon that alter before the Almighty and allowing Him to slay us, so that it is no longer I that live, but Christ in me (Gal 2:20) who works and accomplishes His will through me, so that all the glory may be His and His alone.