FYI I’m pretty complicated. Like, I’m really complicated. I’ve told my friends lately that I’m about as much fun as a Rubiks cube; colorful, complex, and completely impossible to figure out.  I hate making decisions. Like really hate making decisions. I’ve been a twin who had the luxury of sharing a womb with an uber-smart and tenacious counterpart who decided everything from what Strawberry Shortcake shirt we wore to where we sat when we watched Punky Brewster. It was great. But then my 20s happened and I had to start making my own decisions [insert panic attack here].

Literally, a hyper-spiritual mantra would roll off my lips mechanically when someone would suggest I date a guy, move to a new location, or find a job (because yes, I was jobless after college). If God can part the Red Sea, create and sustain the WORLD in six days, and cause Lazarus to come back from the grave, I’m sure He’ll tell me what to do. Then I’d waddle away like a pharisee and laud myself for being in tune to what God had for me. Or so I thought.
In Kevin DeYoung’s book, Just Do Something, he lists five reasons why Christianese has messed up our understanding of “being in His will” and why we are so desperate to find out God’s plan for our lives.
1. We want to please God. Wanting to do what God wants is good and trying to discern His will comes from good intentions, but we should stop putting ourselves through the misery of over spiritualizing every decision.
2. We are timid. There are times when I’ve been paralyzed by indecision and inactivity for fear of being out of God’s will. DeYoung has given an admonition to just do something! If you are loving the Lord and abiding in Him, trust that He will imbue wisdom and is sovereignly in control of everything.
3. We search for perfect fulfillment. If you think that God has promised this world will be a five-star hotel, you will be miserable as you live through the normal struggles of life. “It’s no wonder,” DeYoung writes, “we expect people to affirm us for everything, criticize us for nothing, and pay us for anything we want to do.” We want it all–we just need God to show us the way to the Land of Milk and Honey.
4. We have too many choices. Previous generations didn’t struggle trying to find God’s will because they didn’t have as many choices. He argues that our eagerness to know God’s will is probably less indicative of a heart desperately wanting to obey God and more about our heads spinning with all the choices to be made.
5. We are cowards. According to DeYoung, sometimes when we pray to know the will of God, it’s a coward plea to ensure that nothing bad will happen to me and I won’t face danger of my bad decisions. But this is contrary to the heroes of faith in Hebrews 11 and throughout the bible.
There is no way I’d be able to go into depth about how DeYoung supports his observations, but I encourage you to pick up his mini-read and prepare to get slapped upside the head. If you’re looking to get coddled and cuddled, this is NOT your book. Tomorrow I’ll be discussing how God is not our magic 8-ball (like Kevin suggests) and list five reasons why waiting for and moving upon signs is sometimes dishonoring to Christ.
Now if you’ll excuse me I need to just do something. By tomorrow this Rubiks cube will be married, in a new apartment, and sitting back at my office at CCM.

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