Message Reflection #2 - Umbrella of God's Will

One image of God's Will that is helpful when talking about His general will is to view it as an umbrella. God's general will which includes things like salvation, purity and even helping people know about Christ form an umbrella that we want to make sure and stay under. With this image the idea is that we have a great deal of freedom to live our lives as long as we stay under the umbrella. Essentially we can do anything we want as long as we are under the umbrella.

It is helpful to remember this image because some get too uptight and worried about making the wrong specific next step. "Maybe it wasn't God's will for me to eat at Applebee's today?" I think that is ridiculous. God cares far more that we are in a relationship with Christ, we have an attitude towards obedience and are seeking to grow than where we are eating lunch. (This does presume that eating at Applebee's is not against that person's conscience which is an entirely different discussion for another day I want to put someone to sleep.)

So, to live under His umbrella we need stay consistent in His Word so we can make wise choices. If we don't know what the edges of the umbrella are then we can't really stay under it. The result if we don't? We get all wet! Couldn't resist.

Hopefully this is helpful for thinking about God's general will. It doesn't speak to his specific will which I do believe He does have for us, but certainly we need to understand and pursue His general will before we can get clarity on His specific will for our lives.