Some food for thought

Friday night I took my little sisters, and we went to a bible study meeting called Gethsemane Girls that Fr. Nathan puts on for girls ages 13-18. What we do is read one of the Gospels out loud and then we discuss it. The Gospel we read was John 7:16-23. Verses 17 and 18 really struck me, because they say, “If anyone wills to do His will, he shall know concerning the doctrine whether it is from God or whether I speak on My own authority. He who speaks from himself seeks his own glory: but He who seeks the glory of the One who sent Him is true and no unrighteousness is in Him.” Now to me this says a lot, because so often we have to make decision about things and wonder, “What is God’s will?” I feel like right now I am about to make a lot of decision that are life altering but have no clear cut, right or wrong, answers to them. For example, should I go to school, what should I go to school for, where should I go to school, should I get married, who should I marry, should I be a sister, what kind of sister, is there something else God is calling me to do, and the list goes on and on and on. How do I know what God is calling me to do? This Gospel tells us that as long as we are seeking Gods glory, and not our own, then we will be doing what is true and righteous. It makes it a lot easier to decide what I should do if I can just ask myself, “What will bring God the most glory?” I think you also have to take things a little deeper than that though, and say, “Why should I glorify God?” We know that it is good for us to glorify God because the more we glorify him, the more we grow in love, and the more we grow in love, the happier we will be. So not only do we ask, “What will most glorify God?” but also, “Will glorifying God in this way help me to grow in love?” I believe there are many things that would seemingly glorify God, but if they don’t lead you to love then it does you no good. Because the more things we love, the more joy we have.