Have you ever asked yourself this question…
What does God really want from me?
Religious traditions offer up a lot of purported answers, mostly recognized by the seemingly never-ending list of “do’s” and even longer list of “don’ts”. To put it in perspective for the married guys, a life of Faith begins to look like the honey-do-list-from-hell. Whatever we do ro do not do…it is never enough. And to complicate matters the list seems to continue growing. Check one item off the list only to find three new items on the list. The average Follower of Christ never gets a chance to catch their breath, relax and enjoy a life of Faith. This leads to severe frustration and even disillusionment with Religion; and worse, Faith. But I suspect the far greater result is when people come to accept this as what Faith is supposed to look like.
There is a straightforward answer to what God wants and it is found in the story of a guy named David. But first to set the stage, David’s life is recorded in the Old Testament where we find a guy was never “voted most likely to succeed”…by his own family. He was the youngest of the litter (lots of brothers) and relegated to a substantial amount of personal time tending the family sheep. However, his life was to take a turn when the local prophet showed up declaring the little shepherd David was destined to be the next king. Suffice to say the reigning king did not take to this idea so David finds a lot of his early adulthood dodging hurled spears and hiding in caves from this very insecure and jealous king. To keep the backstory short, David marries the king’s daughter and is crowned king without leading a coup, which is his comrades figured it would take. God’s destiny had come true. Sounds great so far right?
David is the king, he is ‘the man’, he has the power, he has the money, he has the queen-ly wife, he in the best neighborhood…in a nutshell…David is at the top of his game. But, not surprisingly, David is just as flawed as most of us are and there is where things get interesting.
More, next time…