Just Tell Me What To Do!
Sometimes I just want someone to TELL ME WHAT TO DO!!
Other times I’m on the receiving end of this statement.
Either way it’s a painful moment…
When someone is at that place they feel things like frustration, disconnection, hurt, despair and maybe most of all confusion. Somewhere inside us all we just want to do it right and to know exactly what that means.
If someone will just make “it” clear then we can do “it”. Then one of two things will happen- we will get the results we wanted or we won’t. If the later happens we can then blame the process and likely the person who gave it to us in the first place. If we do get the results we want we can keep going to that person to tell us what to do.
The New Covenant isn’t like this. In the New Covenant the plan is for us to go to God for ourselves and learn to hear from Him. In some ways I like the Old Covenant better where I could just pay someone to go to God and tell me what to do. The rules seemed more clear. The pathway was more defined.
Hebrews 10 talks about this new way of relating to God as foretold in Jeremiah 31:33
“This is the agreement I will make with them at that time, says the Lord. I will put my teaching in their hearts and write them on their minds”
I’m not a fan of this plan. It puts too much responsibility on people instead of trained leaders. What if they mess up? What if they don’t really know how to hear from God?
To be honest I see myself on both sides of Just Tell Me What To Do on a regular basis.
Sometimes I just want someone to take responsibility for what’s next with my business. The problem is that there are a thousand people who want me to hire them to tell me what to do and some of them have conflicting advice.
On the other hand people who meet with me often want me to make decisions for them about what to do. They need to make quality decisions about careers, relationships, situations they are facing, circumstances, future goals and more.
Here’s the thing – we all have to live our own lives.
In the end I am the one that has to decide how much energy or resources I want to give toward certain goals and I have to pay the price and process the outcomes. Someone else can tell me what to do but in the end I am responsible for the choices I make.
When someone is looking for me to tell them what to do I keep in mind that I don’t have to live with the man they are considering marrying. I don’t have to work toward building their career pathway, or take the debt they would incur with furthering their education. And so on.
Each of us has to carry our own load. (Galatians 6:5)
When we want someone to tell us what to do we are skirting the relational experience of learning to hear from God on our own that He so desperately craves for us to have!
He loves us and paid a dear price for the curtain to be split from top to bottom! Enter in! You are part of a royal priesthood and have direct access to God!
It’s scary and risky, but it must be done in order for us to live our lives in faith.
Without faith no one can please God. Anyone who comes to God must believe that He is real and that He rewards those who truly want to find Him. (Hebrews 11:6)
So, if you want to learn to hear from God on your own OR if you want to help others to learn to talk to Him first and you later. Coach training could be your next step!
WARNING: Coaching changes lives. It gives responsibility. It’s risky and requires trust. It points to Jesus and connects people directly with Him. It takes out the middle man. It shares the load of listening for God’s will. It’s humbling. It’s honoring to God and people. It’s curious. It serves. It believes. Coaching is filled with hope and relational connection.