It’s About Who You Are

Devotional Reading: Jesus said, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your passion and prayer and intelligence.’ This is the most important, the first on any list. But there is a second to set alongside it: ‘Love others as well as you love yourself.’ These two commands are pegs; everything in God’s Law and the Prophets hangs from them.” Matthew 22:37‭-‬40 MSG

What should I do? You’ve probably asked that question a lot, especially if you have a major life decision to face, like where to go to school, whom to marry, or what career to pick. It’s a similar question a religious leader asked Jesus in the Bible: “Which is the greatest commandment of the Law?” (Matthew 22:36 NIV) In other words: what should I do?

In the next verse, we see Jesus’ reply: “’You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. A second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’” (Matthew 22:37-39 NIV, emphasis added)

When we try to figure out what God’s plan is for our lives, we can start with these two things Jesus told us to do:

• Love God.

• Love other people.

You’re probably thinking, that sounds great, but how do I know what career to pick?

That’s a fair question. Here’s the good news: If you’re following Jesus and surrounding yourself with godly people, the Holy Spirit will help guide your decisions.

You might be torn between two career choices that are equally as good, and you wonder which God wants you to go to. Let’s go back to what Jesus said earlier about the two greatest commandments: loving God and loving people. Can you love God and love other people in either of those choices? If the answer is truly yes, then it doesn’t matter which you choose. God can use you at either place. And if it’s a No, you will know because you are a Christian with God’s spirit Living inside you.

When it comes to our future decisions, God doesn’t always give us “yes” or “no” answers. That can seem confusing, but there’s a lot of freedom when you realize God’s plan for your life is more about who you’re becoming than what you’re doing.

Does that mean we just make all of our decisions on our own and live however we want? Of course not! We may not always know God’s will, but we can always walk in God’s ways. What does that mean? It means that even if we don’t know what’s next for our lives, we can continue to obey what God has called us to right now. That means following Him, living a life of integrity, obeying and loving every person God puts in our lives.

And here’s the best part: When we follow Christ, He gives us wisdom through His Holy Spirit. (1 Corinthians 2:12-13) He renews our thoughts (Romans 12:2) and helps us focus on the right things. When we surround ourselves with wise people (Proverbs 13:20), they’ll help us make the right decisions, too. And one of the best ways we can find wisdom is through prayer. In fact, James 1:5 says that if we ask God for wisdom, He will give it to us!

Prayers and Confession
LORD, help me to follow your leadings and follow your instructions to love You and love others. Amen.

Further Reading: Galatians 5:16, Matthew 6:33.