Thy will be done.
Those are the easiest words to say, and the most difficult to mean.
Thy will be done when I don’t see a way out.
Thy will be done when I’ve unknowingly created a vision of what Your will should look like, and have already started moving toward it.
Thy will be done when I have no human understanding of why or how you’re allowing this thing to happen in my life, and why you’re allowing it to keep happening over and over again.
Thy will be done in my grief, in my despair, in my heartache, and in my loneliness.
Thy will be done when I succeed and verbally give You the public credit, all the while harboring some secret self-reliance, pride, or even arrogance.
Thy will be done when the disease returns.
Thy will be done when the relationship goes south, or when the business plan backfires, or when the truth about who I really am is brought to some embarrassing light.
Thy will be done.
Kinda feels like we’re getting to the heart of those words now. Because at the heart of embracing the depth and breadth and soul and nuance of those four words – Thy will be done – is to add a simple phrase to their conclusion. What if we added – “…with no strings or expectations attached.” That’s what we’re really saying here, right? So…
THY WILL BE DONE WITH NO STRINGS OR EXPECTATIONS ATTACHED.
For me, that’s the very best way I can mean it when I say it, and I can say it and fully mean it. It feels like surrender to me, and I’m unaccustomed to feeling enough of that. It feels like I just came closer to the heart of worship than when I sing words to songs. It feels like I’m confronted with the choice to either believe in the goodness of God, or to abandon that belief in His goodness altogether. It feels like I can now begin to see my life in the light of eternity, not in the glare of these earthly and temporal and individual events.
Christ is not inviting us into some version of Christian Karma, friends, where His will is somehow attached to our good or bad deeds, and our lives get easier as a result of following Him. Not even close. He’s inviting us to climb up onto an altar, not as a sacrifice that will die, but as one that will truly and finally live.
So today, God – Thy will be done.. and truly…
with no strings or expectations attached.
So what about you? If you were to fill in the blank at this moment of your life, what words would you use in that blank space?
Thy will be done with no strings or expectations attached, even when __________________.
This post originally appeared on GaryMo.com. Used with permission.
