Seize Your Life! Part 2 - Taking Responsibility

In Part 1 we talked about making room in your life for the Word. The Bible is God’s most direct way to speak to us – it communicates His thoughts, feelings, and commands perfectly. If we are not just blowing smoke at God, then spending time in His Word and praying are going to build our closeness to God.

If you’re at all like me though, you have questions for God that aren’t spelled out the way you want in the Bible. The Bible doesn’t tell you which college to attend. The Bible doesn’t tell you which job to take. The Bible doesn’t tell you if your girlfriend is “the one”. For a number of years after I became a Christian I had no idea where God was taking me. In many ways I was like a leaf on the ocean, blown to and fro by invisible wind and obscure currents. I knew God was keeping me afloat, but I didn’t know where life was taking me.

It was around that time that I came across a verse that I mentioned in part 1: “Delight yourself in the LORD and he will give you the desires of your heart.” – Psalm 37:4. I pondered what it meant. I had many desires – a wife, a wicked job, a seaside house with a boat, truck and a quad. Even children. Did it mean that if I went after God, he will give me all my desires? In a moment of insight, the Holy Spirit revealed to me what it really means. When you find your delight in the Lord, he becomes the desires of your heart, and reveals himself to you. What did that mean for me? It meant that I needed to make a decision. Will I or will I not delight myself in the Lord?

I had to take responsibility for my faith. If I was going to follow God, I had to make a decision. I had to cease to be borne along by emotion and dedicate myself to the task. It was unfamiliar territory for me. My first step in that direction came after dropping out of University. I chose to go into Forestry School because there were great seasonal jobs that paid well, and it afforded me to go to school where I chose and not incur debt. That choice of where to go after that was a commitment I made to God to attend Bible College for a year.

That commitment got me work that I enjoyed – I got to ride quads, drive trucks, and explore the mountains and forest which were all incredibly fun for me. The goal of Bible College led me to the west coast, where I began to connect with people – and met my wife. Not at Bible College incidentally… but that’s another story. I would have never met her if I had not gone into Forestry to enable me to go to Bible College, and had I not chosen to go to Bible College on the west coast. He gave me the desires of my heart in his time, when I chose to delight myself in the Lord.

Since that time, I have had to make many other choices. One thing that has been consistent through it all – as I have chosen to follow him, he has blessed me. In my obedience, he has given me what I needed. Even through something as mundane as deciding to read my children Bible stories at night, it met my desire to spend more time in the Word with him. My opportunity to disciple my children became an opportunity to disciple myself.

When we reach for God, he shows us where he wants us. John 14:21 says, “Whoever has my commands and obeys them, he is the one who loves me. He who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love him and show myself to him.” It’s that simple. We obey him and love him, and he loves us back and reveals himself to us. And if you have had contact with the risen Lord, you won’t be wondering what he would have of you anymore.