I must admit this whole discussion is somewhat mystifying to me. Are we saying that it is God's desire to "micro-manage" our lives? Is that biblical? Seems almost Calvinistic to me.
I have thought for some time that God gives us freedom to live as we decide, within a boundary he has placed around us, that boundary being sin; i.e. going beyond the boundary would be going outside the will of God. And in most cases, we know where that boundary is. He has told us in his word. He does not care if I eat fish for lunch or chicken. He does care if I am a glutton. And I do not think He cares whether a young man becomes an electrician or a dentist. He will be satisfied with either occupation as long as we work as though He is our employer. And as for the car we drive, I do not believe He cares if we drive a Ford or a Toyota. But He does care if we choose a car for reasons of pride, i.e., to look down on others, or if we are not good stewards of the money we have been blessed with.
It seems to me Oswald Chambers was saying much the same:
When you have a right-standing relationship with God, you have a life of freedom, liberty, and delight; you are God’s will. And all of your commonsense decisions are actually His will for you, unless you sense a feeling of restraint brought on by a check in your spirit. You are free to make decisions in the light of a perfect and delightful friendship with God, knowing that if your decisions are wrong He will lovingly produce that sense of restraint. Once he does, you must stop immediately.
If I understand Chambers correctly, through our knowlege of God's word and the working of the Spirit, we will know when we have crossed, or are about to cross, the boundary into sin. That is, if we do not quench the Spirit.
I guess I am curious to know whether those posting here believe, as I do, that there are some things in our lives that God leaves up to us to decide, and our decisions are acceptable to Him as long as they are not sinful.
rvornberg wrote:
You see, many Christians (including myself) want to better our lives. So in order to do that, we often will go for a higher paying job. We'll go for a job that we like better. We get higer education (not always, but most of the time) to further our careers.
Where are any of the underlined things said to be sinful in the scriptures? Only if you are selfish, take advantage of others, etc., would there be any sin involved it seems to me. And it would also be wrong if not getting the job you sought after caused you to react wrongly. That might be coveting against God's will.
Just my 2 cents.
