Living Out of Our Will, Part 2 of 2

We chatted Wednesday about what goes wrong when we live out of our emotions or out of our intellect (our mind); see http://www.davewernli.com/2014/08/living-out-of-our-will-part-1-of-2.html. Our emotions are there to enjoy life and to let us know when something's wrong. Our mind is there so we can figure out how to reach our goals. But neither should be setting those goals. Neither our emotions nor our will should be driving.

God wants us living out of our will. Think about it – the best acts in life come from our will.

Love is an act of the will. You can actually measure love – it's measured in units of sacrifice. Choosing to sacrifice for someone else is an act of the will. Love is not gooshy feelings. The gooshy feelings are a consequence of love – not its cause or definition.

Here's proof. The next time you're ticked off at somebody, choose to do something sacrificial for them, something significant that would bless them and that you get no fringe benefit from, expecting nothing in return. The side-effect will be positive emotions for you toward that person. I dare you – try it! It's fun!

Faith is an act of the will. We are barraged all day with the constant choice between responding in fear or responding in faith. In the middle of our fear, when we choose to believe God over the circumstances our eyes see, that's faith. It's a choice.

Bravery, a synonym for faith, is also an act of the will. A brave person is just as fearful as anyone else, but do not let their fear influence their decision, but rather they use their fear to heighten their awareness of the situation. Their decision is an act of their will, not their emotions or their mind. Then they use their mind to figure out how to implement that decision.

As Christians, we want our will to be aligned with God's will. We feel his prompting in our spirit. Sometimes it defies the logic of our mind and the desires of our emotions. But we choose it anyway because we're in love. After doing this a while, we start longing to live on the edge with him, leaping across the mountain tops, moving in the miraculous like he does (see Song of Songs 2:8).

Like the dwarfs who show up on Bilbo's doorstep, Jesus has awoken our inner hobbit. We choose to go on the adventure, thrilling our emotions, and using every mental faculty we possess. And he still surprises us when we least expect it. What a great life!