How Do I Know If I’m Doing What God Wants Me To Do?
"I don't know," says Malli, "I just got to trust in myself." If you're doing the right thing, Victoria, 8, says, "you'll like it and it'll be for you to do." Lots of people today would agree. They say, "If it feels good, do it."
Wait a minute! What if a bank robber has fun stealing money? Does that make it right?
Here's the ultimate test, says Jeremy, 9: "If nothing bad happens to you then you know it's OK to do."
Hey Jeremy! Some murderers and robbers never get caught.
Try this test, says Lacey, 12: "If you don't want to tell your parents, it's not what God wants you to do." Does this include the time my friend Deb wrote her brother's name in the dust on her dad's new car--just in case it might be wrong?
"You'll sometimes get sick at your gut when you know you did something wrong, says Conner, 12. Deb's gut was sick when she heard her dad yell at her brother for messing up the car--but not sick enough to tell Dad the truth right away.
"If you're doing something wrong, the Holy Spirit will convict you," says Jannae, 9.
But isn't that a feeling? How does the Holy Spirit convict us? "He tells us in our sleep," says Morgan, 7. Ummm. Do I have to wait until bedtime and hope I don't hear a big voice saying, "Noooo" in my dreams?
The Holy Spirit is more than a mystical feeling or emotional experience. He is a person. The earthly life of Jesus Christ is described as being led or filled with the Holy Spirit (Matthew 4:1). In this, Jesus set the example for all who believe in him. "If you have Jesus in your heart," says Shelby, 10, "the Holy Spirit will tell you what God's will is."
Often this kind of assurance only comes from spending time alone with God as Grace, 8, does: "I can hear him in my mind when nobody is around me." In the midst of Jesus' ministry, he often sought solitude to pray.
Spending time alone with God is good, but don't overlook the obvious, says Brad, 6: "I read the Bible."
Sometimes we make divine guidance too complex. About the only thing I remember from high school algebra is that there's an unknown "X" factor, which in my case usually remained unknown. The only hope I had for discovering the unknown "X" factor was to focus on the known quantities.
The Bible is the known or revealed Word of God. By focusing on what God has revealed, the unknown often becomes known. For example, if you're tempted to steal a candy bar from a store, there's no need to ask God about that. He's already told us his will: "You shall not steal" (Exodus 20:15).
"The Bible is God's special instruction book for you to read and check your progress," says Heather, 12. Madison, 7, says it's important to read the Bible and then obey. She knows God's will because she's a "hearer and a doer."
After all, why should God disclose his will about a career choice, a relationship, or any number of personal decisions if we aren't acting on what he has already explained in the Scriptures? If we are doers of his revealed will, then the experience of Thomas, 12, will certainly be ours:
"You can hear him in your heart saying, 'Good job!'"
Hey Thomas! That's the feeling Deb got when she did the right thing and told her dad she was the one who messed up his car.
Carey Kinsolving is a syndicated columnist, producer, author, speaker and website developer. To see more material like this, visit www.KidsTalkAboutGod.org. The Kids Talk About God website contains free, online content for children and families. See Carey’s Kid TV Interviews. Hear a book talk. Print free lessons from the "Kids Color Me Bible" and make your own book. Let an 11-year-old girl take you on a trip around the world in the Mission Explorers Streaming Video. Print Scripture verses illustrated by child artists. Receive a complimentary, weekly e-mail subscription to our Devotional Bible Lessons.
Bible quotations in this Bible lesson are from the New King James Version.
Copyright 2007 Carey Kinsolving