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The Bible Teaching Commentary on Genesis: The Book of Foundations
Commentaries that specialize on training the teacher!
SEEKING GOD'S WILL
Colossians 1:10
Gaining Perspective on Priorities
Paul J. Bucknell
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"So that you may walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, to please Him in all respects, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God" (Colossians 1:10 nasb).
Most people have really messed up their lives by making wrong priorities. They are told this and that are important. So after making a list of the important aspects of their lives, they make a colossal mistake. They place the most important ones at the top of the list in hierarchal ordering. Many of us are not conscious of this process even though it has to do with our major life decisions! But still these lists are made.
The reason for these lists it to help people deal with conflict. School is more important than work; family more important than some types of work; God is more important than all of them, etc.
One might wonder why this is completely wrong. We simply point you to the diagram below.
Reasons for God-oriented Priorities
1) First of all, God is not just another priority. He is not just ay the top of the list. As the Organizer of our lives, we need to work on a program on how to properly and effectively deal with the different responsibilities that we have in life. God in facts touches upon everything to do with life. Secular living has us compartmentalize God into a category called spiritual or religious. As soon as we do this, then we have other areas that are not influenced by God. This is the backdrop of secular living and is very dangerous.
2) The second important aspect of this verse and its diagram is that God wants to be part of each area of our lives. We will see that each one of us has different responsibilities in life. These are determined by our relationships, training, service and work. God wants to be involved in each area. We need to cultivate a spirit of prayer so that we might have God really help us in each of these areas.
3) Lastly, we should realize that God wants to work through us to bear fruit. He wants to make us successful (in His perspective). When our lives are pleasing to Him, we are able to live in such a way in each area of life to bring glory to Him.
4) When we begin to look to Him for help in these different areas of life, then we begin to see His help and increase in our knowledge and confidence of God.
Other thoughts
The most urgent and important aspect about seeking God's will is to make Him the center of our lives. We might have many challenging aspects about life, but we need to acknowledge He is the most important. We live God-oriented lives. As someone said, He takes first place in life and there is no second or third place that compares with Him.
The next most crucial aspect about seeking God's will is to seek God's will for each an d every part of our lives. We might think only one part is important to God because we are sinning in that area. Christians grow quickly when they are growing in each area of their lives (cf. 2 Peter 1:2-11). The challenge then is twofold.
- 1) Be open and welcome Him to explore all the areas of your life even the ones you are not aware of.
- 2) When He takes you up on your invitation and touches upon sensitive areas of your life, trust Him. He always does things wisely and will start off gently changing you at first. If we are stubborn, this prolongs the good changes and makes our situation more difficult. We should go along with Him without the fuss.
God's will is absolutely perfect and good. Dedicate your whole life to Him and His purpose for your life!
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