Seeking God’s Will By R. Scott Rodin

The Greatest Pursuit is the Will of God

The most important work we do as steward leaders is to seek to know God’s will and pursue it with obedience and excellence. If you agree, let me ask you how many times you have thought or said out loud, ‘If only we knew for certain what God wanted us to do in this situation.’ How can we be sure we can honestly know God’s will for us as we seek to lead faithfully?

The Apostle Paul in Romans gives us a somewhat surprising answer.

Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by renewing your mind. Then you can test and approve God’s will—his good, pleasing, and perfect will.

Romans 12:2

I say it is surprising because Evangelicals tend to subjugate the workings of the mind to the passion of the heart and the product of the hands. Yet Paul points directly to a renewed mind as the vehicle through which transformation takes place in us. We can also discern God’s good, pleasing, and perfect will through this renewal. Paul creates a stark juxtaposition between the way of thinking that conforms to worldly patterns and the mind being renewed in Christ. In other words, when we think correctly and when Spirit-led renewal dominates our attitudes, perceptions, and cognitive faculties, our worldview will look strikingly different from the prevailing way of thinking we see in the world around us.

Conformity is a subtle siren. In our recent book, The Choice, Gary Hoag, Wes Willmer, and I proposed that faithful leadership takes a person down what we call the Kingdom Path rather than the Common Path. We were suggesting that the Common Path is synonymous with conformity to the patterns of this world. At the same time, the Kingdom Path would commit leaders to renewing the mind through the Holy Spirit.

Some have questioned whether this means that we were opposed to measuring outcomes.

I would respond that it is not a matter of ‘if’ but ‘how.’ We must constantly measure outcomes according to kingdom standards. When our measurements revert to ways of thinking we have adopted from non-biblical sources, we must question conformity. The Greek word for conformity means ‘taking a shape that identifies you with’ the world. This is a warning that our thinking does not become shaped uncritically by how the world thinks, nor conform unquestioningly to its values, attitudes, or norms, including its measurements of success.

Instead, our minds are to be under the continual influence of the Holy Spirit. This word ‘renewal’ is the same word used in Titus 3:5, where the author tells us Christ “saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit.” The same Spirit that saved us continues to renew us, including our minds as leaders.

If our transformation to the image of Christ comes through such ongoing renewal, and through that renewal, we can discern God’s will for us and our organization, then perhaps we need to ask some rather unique questions.

• What does it mean to have my mind continually renewed by the Holy Spirit?
• Am I seeing this renewal taking place in me? Are others seeing it?
• What old viewpoints, attitudes, and beliefs am I holding on to that belie conformity to the world’s way of thinking?
• How do I put myself in the posture of surrender where the Holy Spirit can do this renewal work?
• How do I help my team develop practices that keep us open to this ongoing renewal?

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R. Scott Rodin is the Senior Consultant/Chief Strategy Officer for The Focus Group. Over the past thirty-eight years, Scott Rodin has helped hundreds of organizations improve their effectiveness in leadership, fund development, strategic planning, and board development. His books and articles have been translated into over twenty languages, and he has taught and consulted with ministries across five continents. He also serves as a Senior Fellow of the Association of Biblical Higher Education and as board chair for ChinaSource.

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