Are You Living On God’s Back-up Plan?4 min read

When I was starting up as a Christian, I used to hear sermons asking us to pray for God’s perfect will and not to live God’s permissible will. It really put the fear of God in me not to “miss it”. It used to seem like I could be living my life thinking that I was living God’s best and poof! I find out that I am on the wrong side of the road.

For example, you need to find out if it is God’s will for you to study that course or else you could spend your life working in the job God didn’t want. I bet you know this one – you could marry the wrong woman and spend your life wondering “what could have been?”.

Don’t get me wrong. I do believe it is important to ask for God’s direction when making life’s decisions but I have found out that God’s will is not as difficult as we think.

First, God has only one will. Yes, only ONE WILL. I bet now you’ll start to give me examples of so-and-so who did this-and-this when he or she could have done this-and-that.

I read somewhere that God made man in His image and man decided to return the compliment by reducing the way God thinks to the way man thinks. It sounds funny but it is true. A lot of our confusion as Christians is really because we think God is like us.

Second, just like us, we think God has two plans – the main plan (perfect will) and the back-up plan (permissible will). This really comes from a lack of understanding of what God’s will is. God’s will is constant and doesn’t change even if the situations change.

Let me play a little game with you. What do you think is the perfect will of God for mankind? You see the way some people talk about the Garden of Eden; you’d think that the crucifixion of Jesus was a back-up plan. Just to be clear, living in the Garden of Eden was not God’s will for us either.

God’s will has always been this – that we should enjoy Him. So everything was meant to lead to this. Adam and Eve were meant to enjoy Him in fellowship that comes from basking in a completed creation while we have come to enjoy Him in fellowship that comes from redemption through Christ Jesus. This is why even every act of service to Him comes with a glory of God-enjoyment.

So what does that mean for you? Well, it means that as long as you can enjoy God and fellowship with Him in what you are doing, how you do it, where you are and who you are with – you are in His PERFECT WILL.

Some people question whether they are working the perfect job, with the perfect partner, in the perfect church – to be sure they are in His perfect will. God is more concerned about you getting it right than you could be concerned about it. That is if you are focused on enjoying Him and fellowship with Him.

I like to use the story of Abimelech to explain this point. Abraham told the same “Sarah is my sister” story to the guy and he took her to be his wife. Can you believe that the guy did not sleep with Sarah throughout the time she was in his house? God told him He kept him from doing that because he knew Abimelech thought he was doing the right thing “marrying single Sarah”.

Does this mean that even those who flunk big time by choosing an immoral lifestyle are in God’s perfect will? Nope, it simply means that if they repent, they come into His perfect Will immediately.

Even when it seems like God told you something and what happens turns out to the opposite. There is no back-up plan for anyone living to enjoy God and enjoy fellowship with Him. That is the main plan.

I remember before my national service posting I was so sure that God wanted me to serve in Lagos. Well, the posting came out and I got posted to Yobe State – the other side of the country. Can you believe that was the first time I heard the name of the state in my life?

But I choose to be excited because I knew wherever I was; I would always enjoy God and fellowship with Him. And boy oh boy, it turned out to be one of the best years of my life. Some of what I do today comes from my time in that State.

This is not second-prize consolation. This is really the spring and confidence we should live with.

So make up your mind today to enjoy God and fellowship with Him where you are. If you can’t do that, this might mean you need to re-evaluate your relationship with Him. Settle the matter and get back to this serious business.

The Serious Business of Enjoying God and Fellowship With Him – This is God’s Perfect Will.