For thought and meditation

[rl69]

He…said to them, "Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem…" LUKE 18:31
Jerusalem, in the life of our Lord, represents the place where He reached the culmination of His Father’s will. Jesus said, “I do not seek My own will but the will of the Father who sent Me” (John 5:30). Seeking to do “the will of the Father” was the one dominating concern throughout our Lord’s life. And whatever He encountered along the way, whether joy or sorrow, success or failure, He was never deterred from that purpose. “…He steadfastly set His face to go to Jerusalem…” (Luke 9:51).
The greatest thing for us to remember is that we go up to Jerusalem to fulfill God’s purpose, not our own. In the natural life our ambitions are our own, but in the Christian life we have no goals of our own. We talk so much today about our decisions for Christ, our determination to be Christians, and our decisions for this and that, but in the New Testament the only aspect that is brought out is the compelling purpose of God. “You did not choose Me, but I chose you…” (John 15:16).
We are not taken into a conscious agreement with God’s purpose— we are taken into God’s purpose with no awareness of it at all. We have no idea what God’s goal may be; as we continue, His purpose becomes even more and more vague. God’s aim appears to have missed the mark, because we are too nearsighted to see the target at which He is aiming. At the beginning of the Christian life, we have our own ideas as to what God’s purpose is. We say, “God means for me to go over there,” and, “God has called me to do this special work.” We do what we think is right, and yet the compelling purpose of God remains upon us. The work we do is of no account when compared with the compelling purpose of God. It is simply the scaffolding surrounding His work and His plan. “He took the twelve aside…” (Luke 18:31). God takes us aside all the time. We have not yet understood all there is to know of the compelling purpose of God.

[Blackwater]

Thanks, Ronnie. And we don't know God's will because generally, we're not really listening. And the reason we're not listening is because we don't WANT to know we're to do things that conflict with OUR will to follow our appetites. And yet, God will forgive us even then, if we just ask it of Him. He forgives us again and again and again. And that's our only real hope - that we realize our shortcomings and diversions from His will, and ask His forgiveness for these acts of omission. There's always plenty of work to do in this world, though, and we will constantly, as long as we can forsee it, have further chances to do better. May God bless us all to know when we err, so we can correct it, and conform more fully to His will.