God's Will for Our Lives

Why would God have a will for our lives?  He doesn't need anything from us. He can do it all. But the fact is He created us for relationship, with Him first and then with others. The fact is He is revealed to others when we have a relationship with Him.  2 Corinthians 4:16-18 says," But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body. For we who are alive are always being given over to death for Jesus' sake, so that his life may also be revealed in our mortal body."

That is God's will for our life. We are to live so that His all-surpassing power shines out of the cracks in us. If we put a fake-front over those cracks His light does not shine out.  At my brother-in-laws, mothers funeral a few years ago the pastor used a beat up, actually driven over, old gas can to represent her life. It was bent out of shape, peeling in paint and had cracks and holes.  He talked of Mary Ann telling how as cancer beat up her body she still had a shining spirit of love for others.  He then turned out the lights in the room and turned on the gas can.  Lights from within shone out of every crack and hole.  That light would not have shone out if their had been some sort of sleeve that looked much more "presentable."  God's will is we honestly live the life we have, with all the good, the bad, and the ugly. Not glorifying our mistakes, that's not the point. The point is whatever we "look" like if our goal is to live out God's will for our lives, is to let Him shine through us.