God’s Will Within Us

   “I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me; and the life I live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” (Gal 2: 20)

   Paul issues a challenge to us in his letter to the Galatians.  He puts before us the mission of accepting Christ within us to the point that we no longer exist except through Him.  In other words we cease to be as an entity separate from God but join ourselves to Him completely.

   This is the mission Jesus accepted when He became man.  He was God and yet chose to become man to save us.  By doing so He became the example we are to emulate.  Throughout the gospels Jesus repeatedly speaks of doing the will of the Father.  He tell us basically the same thing that Paul told the Galatians, “The words I say to you I do not speak on my own authority; but the Father who dwells in me does his works.  Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me;” (John 14: 10 – 11).

   This is the life we are to live as Christians.  We must be willing to forego our worldly desires, replacing them with the will of God.  We are to become a reflection, albeit imperfect, of the life of Christ.  A life of love and service to others.  A life of seeking and doing all in our power to subject our will to the will of the Father.

   When we begin to live our life in this way we will find that we are no longer doing God’s will just because it is His will but because it has now become our will.

   “And the world passes away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever.

Father, I open my heart to your will.

Let Your Holy Will become my will in all things.

May I die to self and live in You.

Amen