Jesus Christ Blog

 A United States Marine was attending some
 college courses between assignments. He had
 completed missions in Iraq and Afghanistan. One of
 the courses had a professor who was an avowed
 atheist and a member of the ACLU.
   One day the professor shocked the class when he
 came in.. He looked to the ceiling and flatly
 stated, ‘God, if you are real, then I want you to
 knock me off this platform. I’ll give you exactly 15
 minutes.’
   The lecture room fell silent. You could hear a
 pin drop. Ten minutes went by and the professor
 proclaimed, ‘Here I am God. I’m still waiting..’
   It got down to the last couple of minutes when
 the Marine got out of his chair, went up to the
 professor, and cold-cocked him ; knocking him off the
 platform. The professor was out cold. The Marine
 went back to his seat and sat there, silently. The
 other students were shocked and stunned and sat
 there looking on in silence.
   The professor eventually came to, noticeably
 shaken, looked at the Marine and asked, ‘What the
 heck is the matter with you? Why did you do that?’
   The Marine calmly replied, ‘God was too busy
 today protecting America’s soldiers who are
 protecting your right to say stupid stuff and act
 like an idiot. So, He sent me.

It should be fundamental to every follower of Christ to ask, “Does God want me to do this?”

Much has been made of the question: “What would Jesus do?” But the question is largely irrelevant. Not only is it pure speculation, it has nothing to do with me. I’m not Jesus. Even if I could determine what Jesus would do in a certain situation, what would that have to do with me? I need to find out what God wants me to do.

We need to learn to ask this question of ourselves and of those we love. Either way it will take a good deal of faith. Yesterday our daughter called us from Colorado facing a big decision and seeking our advice. Though we had strong feelings about what we thought she should do, Marti wisely said instead, “What is God telling you? Ask Him, and you will know.” I thought that was pretty trusting, and pretty brave of her. It’s much easier to try and control and manipulate someone than to genuinely send them to the Lord

Now I know what you’re thinking: “So how does God tell you? How do you find out what He wants you to do?” Why not try asking Him? I honestly think we are so caught up in trying to figure out how to find the will of God, that we never simply go to Him and ask Him what it is! I mean there are volumes of books on the subject of finding the will of God, when the answer basically comes down to asking Him.

Jesus was always telling us that we lack because we fail to ask. Why wouldn’t that apply to the basic questions of our lives? “Lord, what would you have me to do?” The answer may take some time. It may take some wrestling. But that’s better than living on assumptions. Ask me, I know.