A number of years ago I was interviewing a prospective assistant pastor and asked him about his goals in life. He told me that he had just one goal... to be holy. His answer blew me away! We did not end up calling this man to the church I was serving, and I was very happy that we hadn't when I learned sometime later that he had left the ministry when he left his wife and family for another woman.
Ever since I heard his answer I began questioning myself about my own goals. What was my heart's desire? What did I truly long for? What was my aim in life? And more importantly, what was God's will for me and for my life? I must confess that sometimes I've told people that my only goal in life was to be holy, but then I would recall that pastor's fall and wonder how anyone could ever claim such a lofty goal.
And yet, isn't that what God's Word tells us? Peter wrote: "Just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do" (1 Peter 1:15). Shouldn't God's will be my will? Doesn't His Word promise us: "Delight yourself in the LORD and he will give you the desires of your heart" (Psalm 37:4)? Truly, when we are delighted in Him, then our heart's desire will be what He desires for us. Didn't St. Paul write: "Aim for perfection" (2 Corinthians 13:11)?
But the failure of my brother kept nagging me. My own sins kept haunting me. They kept me from setting my sights too high. Then, a few days ago I was out on my bike, thinking, praying, and listening to some Christian music (as I usually do when I ride), and I finally came to the full realization of exactly what God expects of me, what His will for my life is, and where He wants me to be in my relationship with Him.
God's will for my life is that I love Him with my whole heart, mind, soul, and strength, that my desire is for Him and Him alone, and that my heart's longing is to honor and please Him in everything that I think and do and say. Nothing less than this could possibly match the will of our holy God. But that is only half of God's will for my life.
The other half of God's will is that I recognize my complete and utter incapacity to do that which I have just expressed, because of my sinful nature. God's will is that I recognize my complete and utter dependence on the grace of God in Jesus Christ, so that by daily repentance and faith I am made righteous in His sight and receive the free gift of eternal life through the atoning blood of Jesus, who received the payment for my sin in His death on the cross, and won the victory for me by His glorious resurrection.
If I only understand the first half of God's will for my life I will be crushed by the weight of my failure. If I only understand the second half of God's will for my life I will fail to strive with every fiber of my being to serve and glorify Him in every way.
To love Him and long for holiness, while trusting Him for the grace that alone can save, that is indeed a good place to be. It is, I am convinced, to be in the center of God's will.
