What one needs to know to do God’s will was outlined in the previous post. Now let us ask the more difficult question: How does one do God’s will, or enter into God’s will?
The spiritual life is not essentially a matter of knowledge nor of information, but of loving practice. Loving practice is first and foremost the renunciation of self in all of its forms. How does one do God’s will? As noted previously, by loving aright. But let us descend into our hearts and consider the process more closely.
To begin to do God’s will, one must want to do God’s will. The will to will God’s will is essential. One must have the attitude which Jesus displayed clearly in the Garden of Gethsemane: “Father, let this cup pass by me; but not my will, but yours be done.” The will to do God’s will begins with a free renunciation of one’s own will. “You cannot serve two masters.” This means that one cannot want what one wants and at the same time, to the same degree, want what God wants. God, not oneself, must be placed first, held in higher esteem, respected, loved, worshiped.
More concretely yet: To do the will of God, one must begin in prayer or in quiet thought. In this utterly simple condition, one asks for nothing, demands nothing, thinks about nothing in particular. But one can usefully begin a prayer of quiet or silent thought by making explicit acts of renunciation. One gives up oneself to God, for God, and even by the unseen grace (help) of God. One proceeds in utter trust, expecting nothing else but to enter into God.
Let us give an example of a beginning meditation to do God’s will: “I renounce hatred, including of the person I most dislike. I renounce a desire for revenge. I renounce, or let go, of all desires for power, for fame, for money. I renounce the desire to escape into a world of my own, into what I want. I renounce my freedom apart from God. I renounce all that I hope for, my dreams, my wishes, my plans. I let go of attachment to what I most love, to my family, to my friends. I renounce the attachment to all of my possessions, even those I most like and love. I renounce attachment to myself, to my desires, to my past, to my memories, to the ways that I like things. I renounce for God all that I have been or hope to be. LORD God, it is You I want above all else, regardless of whatever You do with me. I place myself completely at your disposal, to do with me as You think best. Not my will, but yours be done.”
That renunciation of self, and free giving of oneself to God, is, I believe, the essence and foundation of “doing God’s will.” All else is secondary, and must be built on this foundation, to which one must return and again and again. And why? Because self-love, self-will, self-absorption in all of its forms is part of the human condition, and the primary force against which each of us must struggle again and again, if indeed we wish to love God first and foremost, to do God’s will.
