What role does the sense of doing God’s will play in your religious life?

David Arnow Jewish

The Psalmist says, “Teach me to do Your will, for You are my God” (143: 10). Striving to do God’s will provides a compass amidst the sea of life’s most roiling questions. Does my life still retain a sense of purpose? Does it possess integrity? To search out God’s will means to measure my life against the ultimate standard of meaning and goodness. Jewish tradition helps reveal God’s way. Still, it’s so easy to go through the motions — and false gods are everywhere. So, twice every day in the traditional liturgy we pray that we may “keep Your commandments, do Your will and serve You with a full heart.”*

Mary C. Boys Christian

Anthropomorphism: assigning human qualities to the Divine, e.g., God has a “will.”

We have, of course, no other way of speaking about the incomprehensible God, whose ways lie far beyond our ken. The magnificent poetry of the prophet Isaiah challenges us to remember that the word spoken by God always transcends our full understanding. In image and metaphor and mystery, we approach the living God.

Thus, I prefer not to speak of the “will” of God because it seems so often reduced to something that religious authorities know with certitude. Rather, I tend to speak of God’s desire, asking, “What is it that God desires for the flourishing of creation? How might I attune myself to live in accord with God’s desires?” Others, mindful that the phrase “God’s will” suggests a thing rather than a relationship, speak of God’s call as reflecting the “open, relational, and non-predetermined nature of God’s relationship with us.”*

Related Texts

“Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets; I have come not to abolish but to fulfill. For truly I tell you, until heaven and earth pass away, not one letter, not one stroke of a letter, will pass from the law until all is accomplished. Therefore, whoever breaks one of the least of these commandments, and teaches others to do the same, will be callled least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven.”
— Matthew 5:17-19

For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
nor are your ways my ways, says the Lord.
For as the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are my ways higher than your ways
and my thoughts than your thoughts.
For as the rain and snow come down from heaven,
and do not return there until they have watered the earth,
making it bring forth and sprout,
giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater,
so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth;
it shall not return to me empty,
but it shall accomplish that which I purpose,
and succeed in the thing for which I sent it.
— Isaiah 55:10-11

Pray then in this way:
Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name.
Your king dom kingdom come,
Your will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our debts
as we also have forgiven our debtors.
And do not bring us to the time of trial
but rescue us from the evil one.
— Matthew 6: 9-13

“Little children, let us love, not in word or speech, but in truth and action….And this is his commandment, that we should believe in the name of his [God’s) Son Jesus Christ and love one another, just as he has commanded us. All who obey his commandments abide in him, and he abides in them. And by this we know that he abides in us, by the Spirit that he has given us.”
— The First Letter of John 3:18, 23-24

Now before faith came, we were imprisoned and guarded under the law until faith would be revealed. Therefore the law was our disciplinarian until Christ came, so that we might be justified by faith. Now now that faith has come, we are no longer subject to a disciplinarian, for in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith.… But when the fullness of time had come, God sent his Son, born of a woman under the law, in order to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as children. And because you are children, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, ‘Abba! Father!’
— Paul’s Letter to the Galatians 3:23-26 and 4:4-6

“The place where God calls you to is the place where your deep gladness and the world’s deep hunger meet.” (Fredrick Buechner, Wishful Thinking: A Theological ABC).

[ insert image of song notations ]
Alleluia! Come, Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of Thy faithful and kindle in them the fire of Thy love.
— Prayer to the Holy Spirit

Muhammad Shafiq Muslim

Five times a day when Muslims pray, they ask God to “Guide me to the straight path” of Islam. The Qur’an frequently commands Muslims to “obey God and obey His Messenger” (3:132, 4:59). Every Muslim wishes to please God and have God be pleased by him/her (5:119, 9:100). There are a lot of temptations and distractions in this life so that a Muslim is afraid of arousing God’s displeasure. When I stand and worship, I pray for God’s acceptance of my prayer. When I eat, I check that I eat food that is Halal (permissible) and not Haram (forbidden) in Islam. To a Muslim, fulfilling God’s will means looking for decency and beauty in all aspects of life and rejecting all sorts of ills and abominations.

Note: Translation of the Qur’anic verses and many of the Hadith translation with references were taken from Islamicity.com; some translations of and references to the Hadith were taken from ahadith.co.uk.