Doing the Will of God

In discussions with evangelist friends, it seems the conversation always gets around to the criticality of believing in Jesus Christ as our personal savior and that “belief” is crucial to being “saved” to avoid hell and should be the focus of faith. Works and actions are distant secondary faith issues.

The necessity of faith or works as components of our salvation always appears to get the attention in such exchanges and it can be difficult to steer the discussion to the necessity and interplay of both. One way to bring attention to both is to raise the question What is the will of God” What does he want of us? Does he just want us to believe or is there more?

The Will of God?

A few years ago, I reread the New Testament paying particular attention to the situations and focus of the sayings and actions of Jesus. It appeared that most of his sayings and actions were about how one acts not what one believes. The epistle of James (chapter 2) and Paul in Romans (2: 5-11) also allude to the importance of actions. Jesus’s statements in Matthew 7: 21 “Not everyone who says Lord, Lord, will enter the Kingdom of heaven but he who does the will of my father who is in heaven” really got my attention.

The conclusion I drew was that the only way to enter the Kingdom of Heaven was through doing the will of God. While belief is a component, the ongoing doing and the acting seems to be the crux of the matter. At least that is what appeared as the focus of Jesus’s attention in the Gospels. It is not that our actions earn our way into heaven. Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross did that. It is about us acting to do what is expected of us now that we believe in Christ. We have been justified but we still need sanctification. If we truly believe in Jesus Christ then we should truly act to do the will of God the Son and the Father.

Following the Will of God

That being the case, what is doing the will of God and how can we know it? A place to start is to delve into Scripture and look at Jesus’s commandments. His most direct and succinct commandant was said in Luke 10:25-27 in answering a lawyer’s question “How should I inherit eternal life”.

You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength and with your entire mind; and your neighbor as yourself.

While that is a profound summary, I have seen lists of 50 or more of Jesus’ commandments (including the Old Testament 10) and almost all pertain to “doing” not thinking or believing. There is an emphasis on our personal transformation of mind, spirit, and actions to do his will. I once had a priest mention in a homily that the personal transformation is one of action.

Practicing the Will of God

I am sure that if one were to ponder over the Scriptures for years many more Jesus commandants could be distilled out or inferred. Out of a multitude of commandments can there be a “road map” that provides some direction for following the will of God by following his commandments?

A major function of the Church has been to educate us about the faith and how to live it. Over the last 2000 years, it has taught about living the Christian life and Part 3 of the Catechism of the Catholic Church  (CCC) elaborates on a “Life in Christ” which can be interpreted as describing what can be involved in “doing the will of God”. In essence, the CCC defines a life of “virtue” for us to practice that encompasses those 50 commandments of Jesus and much more. The CCC defines virtue as “a habitual and firm disposition to do good”. Practicing that life of virtue can be distilled down to that of practicing specific virtues and, as an extension, conducting works of mercy. The Church, in turn, has defined formal virtues and works of mercy.

Virtues

We are to practice seven key virtues (in two categories) within our lives – the cardinal and theological virtues. These virtues are based in Scripture, also expressed by Greek philosophers, and were defined early on in the Church.

The Cardinal virtues of:

• Prudence
• Justice
• Fortitude
• Temperance

The Theological virtues:

• Faith
• Hope
• Charity (Love)

Later, in the 5^th century, an additional list of virtues called the seven heavenly virtues were defined to counteract the seven deadly sins.

The Heavenly virtues

• Humility
• Kindness
• Temperance (also a Cardinal virtue and was listed to counteract the sin of gluttony)
• Chastity
• Patience
• Charity
• Diligence

Works of mercy

The works of mercy are actions that develop out of practicing several of the virtues such as Charity (Love), Justice, and Kindness. We are to practice two categories of works of mercy.

Corporal works of mercy

• Feed the hungry
• Give drink to the thirsty
• Clothe the naked
• Give shelter to the homeless
• Visit the sick and imprisoned
• Bury the dead
• Give alms to the poor

Spiritual works of mercy

• Instruct the ignorant
• Counsel the doubtful
• Admonish sinners
• Bear wrongs patiently
• Forgive offenses willingly
• Comfort the afflicted
• Pray for the living and the dead

Those defined virtues and works of mercy are certainly not the only ones or ways one could practice the will of God but they offer a “start” and a direction toward achieving that goal.

The practice of Christian virtue is encouraged within the community. The Catholic Church is a “we” Church. The Jewish faith that Christianity sprang from as a formal religion was a communal church. The early church and the Church to this day is projected as a “community”. To be sure, practicing the virtues and works of mercy can be individual as well as communal but the opportunities for expression as a community are manyfold within the Church.

One example is the work of the Knights of Columbus. In a previous post, I provided an overview of some of the efforts that the organization was involved in illustrating a variety of “works of mercy”. As an example, in 2019 alone, the Knights donated 187 million dollars for charitable causes such as Habitat for Humanity, food banks, Special Olympics, and its members provided over 77 million volunteer hours in merciful acts. Practicing virtue in community multiples our effect of doing the will of God many times over just doing our own thing.

Whether by individual or communal acts, as Christians we have an obligation to go beyond belief to try to live out the will of God.