{"id":6599,"date":"2020-07-31T18:13:21","date_gmt":"2020-07-31T08:13:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.stmark.com.au\/Blogs\/?p=6599"},"modified":"2020-07-31T18:24:35","modified_gmt":"2020-07-31T08:24:35","slug":"take-off-self-will-put-on-gods-will","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.stmark.com.au\/Blogs\/take-off-self-will-put-on-gods-will\/","title":{"rendered":"Put Off Self Will, Put On God’s Will"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>\n

The New Man: Part 5<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

By Sandra Salib<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

Walking into an Orthodox church is an overwhelming experience \u2013 the\nincense, the candles and architecture never fail to grab your attention,\ntransporting you to another place \u2013 a heavenly sanctuary, the House of God.\nSlightly elevated, ornamenting the walls of the church are icons, saints who\nare the exemplars of the spirituality we strive for, seemingly peering at the\npeople entering. It is often said that these saints are amidst the church\ncongregation, praising and praying with us, but they appear to reflect a\nspirituality which seems so above us, so distant and out-of-reach. We sit in\nchurch pews, longing for change, yet as soon as we walk out of the heavy,\nwooden doors, we are back in the world, as if returning to reality from a\ndream, unscathed. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It wouldn\u2019t be contentious to say that our world today is a busy one.\nWe\u2019re occupied \u2013 working, studying, going out, getting fit \u2013 and while all\nthese pursuits seem to be for our own growth and development, it puts us in a\nselfish oblivion, so distracted that we fail to consider anything that lies\noutside of our personal bubble. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The saints we see in icons are amidst us. To this day, 260 million\nChristians around the world are persecuted for their faith. They are martyrs of\nthe present day. Needless to say, improving their lives isn\u2019t in the question.\nHaving a life at all is what consumes their minds. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Everything they\u2019ve wanted \u2013 their desires, passions, hobbies \u2013 are all\ntrivial. Their own will means nothing \u2013 they are subject to the will of another\nwithout question. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

We are lucky enough, in the Western world, to have the liberty of\nchoice. We have the freedom to believe what we want to believe and do what we\nwant to do. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But to choose to submit your will to another? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a world that upholds the autonomy of the individual, that can be\nhard. Very hard. It\u2019s almost like social suicide. You are fortunate enough to\nget to choose what you want, lay out your whole life for yourself, and then\nyou\u2019re going to let someone dictate your life for you? It doesn\u2019t make sense.\nAnd who are you going to listen to? A supernatural being in the sky who you\u2019ve\nnever seen? It\u2019s a hard pass. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But is this who our God is? Is this how we, as his children, see him?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our God is a loving, kind Father. Our God is all-knowing and\nall-powerful. Our God shepherds us and guides us to the path where we should\ngo. He cares for us, and knows the details of our futures more than we could\nimagine. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This isn\u2019t how we see His Son. Jesus, begotten of the Father, came down\nfrom heaven so that we may have a personal relationship with him. He lived a\nlife of humility, and submitted His life to the Father as an example for us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This isn\u2019t how we see the Holy Spirit, who moves through our hearts like\nthe wind, leading and guiding us as a soft breeze, whispering where we should\ngo. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Of course, we know God is a mighty, powerful being. But the way in which\nhe so freely loves, and gives, and has compassion, surely does not characterise\na fire-and-brimstone, wrathful entity. It illustrates an image of a God who\nwalked upon a fork in the road and, like us, had a choice. There wasn\u2019t even\nmuch of a choice at all \u2013 He knew the journey would be difficult. He knew he\nwould be spited and spat upon by generations upon generations of these\ncreatures whom He loved and created. But this God, who we push to the side,\nthis very God took the narrow path, and submitted His power and glory for\nus. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

When we put on God\u2019s will, we put on the armour of God: the belt of\ntruth, the breastplate of righteousness, the shoes of peace, the shield of\nfaith, the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But we must also feel protected by this armour and let our guard down,\nto let God\u2019s Spirit move through us and guide us. So that we can be still, and\nlisten. To put away our pride and to feel prepared, as the five wise virgins,\nas the faithful servant waiting for his masters\u2019 arrival, as the wedding guests\ndressed appropriately for the great banquet. We need to take off our self will,\nto let go of the wheel and trust that God will lead us to the path where we\nshould go. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

To live as God intended us to will always be one of the greatest struggles for man. But our life is a path full of decisions. And when we come across a fork in the road, we should see Christ running, without hesitation, down a rocky, narrow path and never looking back. With His hands raised, calling out your name, running to bring you in His fatherly embrace. For He, a deity, submitted all for our weak, mortal selves so that we could have salvation. Is submitting to Him for our own selfish good not the least we could do in return? <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The New Man: Part 5 By Sandra Salib Walking into an Orthodox church is an overwhelming experience \u2013 the incense, the candles and architecture never fail to grab your attention, transporting you to another place \u2013 a heavenly sanctuary, the House of God. Slightly elevated, ornamenting the walls of the church are icons, saints who … Continue reading “Put Off Self Will, Put On God’s Will”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":6600,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[119],"class_list":["post-6599","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog","tag-gods-will"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.stmark.com.au\/Blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6599","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.stmark.com.au\/Blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.stmark.com.au\/Blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.stmark.com.au\/Blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.stmark.com.au\/Blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6599"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/www.stmark.com.au\/Blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6599\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6602,"href":"http:\/\/www.stmark.com.au\/Blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6599\/revisions\/6602"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.stmark.com.au\/Blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6600"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.stmark.com.au\/Blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6599"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.stmark.com.au\/Blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6599"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.stmark.com.au\/Blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6599"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}