I Want To Want What God Wants From Me

“We can see hope in the midst of hopelessness. We can see peace in the midst of chaos. We have a hope that the world does not have. We can see clearly that all things work together for the good of them that love Him and are called according to His purpose.” – Priscilla Shirer

When you stop and reflect back over the past few years, it is easy to be overwhelmed. That is because the past few years have seemed anything but normal. Think about it, we have moved to online work and online school. Many people are isolated, and facing medical and financial issues. The old normal seems gone. So what does God want us to do in the new normal we find ourselves in? The same thing He wanted from us in the previous normal and every normal before that.

Sound fairly simple, doesn’t it? But how are we questioning what God truly wants? What is His purpose? What’s the overall plan? What could the omnipotent creator of an entire universe—a creator that can, literally, have anything He wants—possibly desire? You’re not alone in asking this question. King David wondered the same thing in Psalm 8: 3-4, where he puzzles, “When I look at the night sky and see the work of your fingers—the moon and the stars you set in place—what are mere mortals that you should think about them, human beings that you should care for them?” If he can ask this eternal and important question, so can we.

To find out what God wants, we can look at what He asks of us. In Mark 12:30-32, Jesus explains God’s two greatest commandments: “And you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, and all your strength.’ The second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ No other commandment is greater than these.”

What God wants, when it comes to you, is simple. He just wants you. C.S. Lewis said, “God doesn’t want something from us, He simply wants us.” He wants a loving relationship with His children. He wants us to take that vertical love for God and make it horizontal by treating our neighbors as ourselves. If you read scripture you quickly come to the conclusion that love is absolutely the foundation of everything God does. 1 John 4:8 says it outright: “But anyone who does not love does not know God, for God is love.” He created you so that He might love you, and so that you might love Him. He wants our love. This is the beating heart of Christianity.

The end goal of the Christian life is to become the person that God wants us to be. God longs to use you because He loves you. He’s not selfish. He doesn’t need your help. He wants to work with you. He wants your life to matter. He wants you to have an eternal reward for the things you do here on earth because He’s a good Father who wants an intimate relationship with His children. He wants your time at work, with friends, at church, driving, resting, relaxing, and having fun to be filled with the fullness of life that comes from doing life with Him.

Discussion Questions:

If someone asked you what God wants from you, how would you answer?
Does what God wants from us change over time or with changing circumstances? Why or why not?