‘I no longer live for me!’
- Nov 28, 2025
- 6 min read
One of the most important questions for our life as we seek to ‘know God better’ is to ask “What is the will of God for my life?”
I wonder when was the last time you asked this question, or asked yourself, "Am I living in the will of God today?"
John Henry Newman once said, “God has committed some work to me which He has not committed to another. I have my mission; I am a link in a chain, a bond of connection between persons. I have not been created for naught. I shall do good. I shall do God’s work. I shall be an angel of peace, a preacher of truth in my own place.”
I accept there will be so many who really love the Lord, but are still not doing what they know God wants them to do. What a dangerous position!
What a dangerous position to be in, to know what God expects, what God commands, what God desires, and yet choose to do otherwise!
2 Corinthians 5:15 says, "He died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised."
This is what happens when believers are made new in Christ. To be “in Christ” means that ‘I no longer live for me,’ “but for him who for our sake died and was raised.” What a way to grow in our Christian life and to be sure of getting to know God better!
Let’s take a quick look at Jonah. Here’s a guy that didn’t pray this, “O God, I give you the right to change my agenda any time you like—and you don’t have to inform me in advance. Amen.” Remember last week?
The story of Jonah tells us how a prophet of God rediscovers something about the true nature and character of His God. A God of love, truth and grace. Another thing it teaches is about God's sovereign will, especially when it directly opposes our own will.
Let’s say today, you have two doors before you. Behind one door is ‘the complete will of God for your life’, and behind the other, ‘how life would be lived according to ME!’ Which would you choose?
Now, the tragedy of the story of Jonah is that God's will was very clear for Jonah. Jonah didn't have to ask, "I wonder what God wants me to do?"
But he still chose the wrong door!
In Jonah 1:2, Jonah is to make whatever travel plans are necessary and go. Practically speaking he was to prepare for about a 500 mile journey. Go to Nineveh. I’m pretty sure that Jonah clearly understood the instructions.
Yet the story includes Jonah running away from God, allowing himself to be thrown into the sea, end up worshiping God from inside a fish’s stomach, being given another chance, preaching and seeing at least 120,000 people saved from destruction.
Let me be clear, Jonah isn’t the hero, God is! The whole story is about God and how great His heart is toward prodigals, a story of a second chance.
If you look at the story from God’s perspective, you will read about God’s providence in our lives; of God’s election, showing His sovereignty in His control of all things.
In Jonah Ch 2, you’ll read of God’s protection. God still took care of Jonah even though he’d disobeyed and was running in the opposite direction to what God had instructed.
In Jonah Ch 3, God’s heart desire and main purpose for our life is that we be like Him (Rom 12:2).
The story ends with God revealing His affection.
Let’s be absolutely honest and admit, there’s a bit of Jonah in all of us.
Henry Blackaby writes, “The kind of assignments God gives are always God-sized. They are always beyond what people can do, because He wants to demonstrate His nature, His strength, His provision, and His kindness to His people and to a watching world.”
It’ll require GRACE. In some cases outrageous grace!
In Psalm 143:10, David prayed “teach me to do Your will.” He didn’t ask to understand or know His will. He didn’t say, “I need to find Your will.” He simply prayed, “teach me to do Your will.” To know or encounter God’s will was a top priority for David.
Why not stop for a moment and simply pray that prayer.
God's Place?
God's place is a place of surrender and service. God had told Jonah to go to Nineveh.
The Nineveh's of our lives will often be a threat to our logic, our plans and ideas. What qualifies as your Nineveh today? Nineveh may be whatever you hate but what God loves deeply. If you are struggling to answer, perhaps look at it another way and ask, am I living in, or en route to my Tarshish? Where am I in my walk, my relationship with God?
Am I exactly where God wants me to be?
Dr. Barnhouse says, “When you run away from the Lord you never get where you are going, and you always pay your own fare. But when you go the Lord’s way you always get where you are going, and He pays the fare.”
God's Purpose?
Mentioning Jonah earlier in the blog, did you automatically think of the big fish? Someone once said, “Men have been looking so hard at the great fish that they have failed to see the great God.”
Jonah ran from God's will and His purpose for his life by going in the opposite direction. Ever thought, "Why did Jonah do that?"
Well, he had a very interesting reason!
Jonah 4: 2 says, “Isn’t this what I said, Lord, when I was still at home? That is what I was so quick to flee to Tarshish. I knew that you are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abounding in love, a God who relents from sending calamity."
How did Jonah discover or rediscover God’s will for his life?
Look at Jonah 3:1:"The Word of the Lord came to Jonah a second time."
God is a God of second chances! What great news for us today!
Also, it’s a reminder that God constantly tries to speak into our hearts as His children wherever we may be!
God remains sovereign and there are times when He brings us to a place where there’s nowhere else to go! That’s where Jonah was, and in that place he’d finally stopped running from God.
Lysa TerKeurst said, “You’ve never gone too far that God can’t redeem you, restore you, forgive you, and give you a second chance.”
Hallelujah!
Perhaps today, ask, "God please speak your divine plan and purpose into every area of my life!"
I will let you into a secret, it’s not a question of whether God has spoken, but whether we are listening. We are called into a lifetime of working for God in His Kingdom. Knowing His way and using His plan for life.
God's Peace?
This peace refers to our spiritual harmony with God. It is our friendship and covenant relationship with God.
Tim Keller said, “Christianity is not about a general belief in God, and it's not about just being a generally moral person. It's about walking with God.” He went on to say, “Walking with God is not just being at peace with God, it's enjoying peace with God.”
Obedience is not only doing what you are told but doing it with the right attitude. Jonah's trouble began where most people's trouble does: Jonah had an attitude problem that began when he first said 'No' to God.
John MacArthur said, "The place of security is not the place of favourable circumstances but the place of obedience to God’s will."
The safest place in the world to be is in the middle of God’s will. If you’re in the middle of God’s will, you have nothing to fear. You must resolve in advance that once you know His will, you will do it. Note what peace is experienced when you do so! God’s will is always true and real; it can be refused, but remember, it’s always right!
Thomas Merton prayed:
"My Lord God, I have no idea where I am going. I do not see the road ahead of me. I cannot know for certain where it will end. Nor do I really know myself, and the fact that I think I am following your will does not mean that I am actually doing so.
But I believe that the desire to please you does in fact please you. And I hope I have that desire in all that I am doing. I hope that I will never do anything apart from that desire. And I know that if I do this you will lead me by the right road, though I may know nothing about it. Therefore I trust you always though I may seem to be lost and in the shadow of death. I will not fear, for you are ever with me, and you will never leave me to face my perils alone."
Comments