"But I'm Not Happy"

written by Rob Bailes

Good and Acceptable and Perfect

I know today's subtitle sounds like the description of your favorite ice cream. It could also be the description of your wife when she appeared at the back of the church in her incredible wedding gown! Please ladies, don't get upset! There certainly is no comparison to ice cream and a new bride! I was using the ice cream as an example for the ladies and the bride for the men. I know the men won't mind this as we can relate to both examples! I know my girl's favorite thing is Goodberry's Ice Cream over any other surprise, so hang with me, We're just getting started and I wanted to help everyone get the idea in your minds of the kind of things we are thinking about when we have those three words going through our minds, Good, Acceptable and Perfect!

This is how we often feel about the things or people that are very special to us in life. Things or people that we have waited for and dreamed about can seem so perfect when we finally get to have them and experience that moment we have been waiting for, blessed with the enjoyment of what we could only have imagined before!

When we pray or seek for God's will in our life concerning a situation, we often only accept the really great and awesome things as being God's will. When the going gets rough we may begin to think that something isn't right here and think that maybe made a wrong turn along the way. Maybe things aren't going quite as we had imagined it to go ,so we think that it's time to bail out and start over! I know we all have felt this at some point in our lives, so there's no use in pointing fingers at anybody else in the room. This is a time for each of us to search our own minds and hearts.

Throughout scriptures we find where God chose someone to do His will and it wasn't long before they were experiencing some type of difficulty. Isn't it strange how that happens? But we often relate good times that are filled with blessings and joy to being in the will of God! Is it necessary for everything to be going well to feel that we are fulfilling the purpose of God?

If this was the case, we would have to wonder about almost every man that God had chosen in His Word. Even Abraham, who was the called by God to go to the land of Canaan, experienced a famine shortly after his arrival there. Because of the famine he went to Egypt for help and provisions. He also had to go through the experience of Pharaoh taking his wife away from him! How would we feel about that Guys?

Following this experience he and his wife were escorted back to Canaan by the guards and allowed to keep all that Pharaoh had traded him for his wife. It is all quite confusing at times when you look at everything that took place in the lives of these men if you think about it from a human perspective. I would be asking myself, "Why didn't God just rain down food and make water flow from a rock for Abraham?". The thing that we cannot see is how God used this experience to further develop and mature Abraham in his relationship with a God that he blindly trusted in from the time that he first heard His voice.

Do we ever find ourselves going ahead blindly by faith in life to do what we believe is God's will for us? It is very hard not to rely on our own understanding when things are not going the way we had imagined and dreamed? Do you ever feel like turning around when the tests begin to come your way? There is a scripture that had me baffled for a while as I was seeking God's will and things were not so acceptable and perfect in my life.

Rom 12:1,2 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. 2 And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.

As I kept looking back at these verses I couldn't help but wonder what I was doing wrong because the last ten words of this verse were not a description of my life and the will of God, "that ye may prove what is good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God". What I decided to do was a literal translation of this verse just to see if it made any more sense to me. I understood verse one, so I started with verse two and I will share what I found with you.

Verse two starts with "And be not conformed to this world". The world "conformed" in the Greek literally means that we should not be "fashioned alike" or "conformed to the same pattern". So, if I feel as though my life isn't matching everyone Else's in the world, that's not a bad thing, right?
The next thing we see in this verse is "but be ye transformed" and this in the Greek literally means "to transform (literally or figuratively "metamorphose"): - change, transfigure, transform". So we are to change, but how? The rest of this sentence may answer this question. It says "by the renewing of your mind" and this in the Greek literally means " by the renovation of your intellect, mind, thinking".

In construction, renovation involves replacing the things that are old and outdated such as the wiring and plumbing but keeping the core of the building in tact. It is the improvement and replacement of the things that could eventually cause further damage and the destruction of the house or building if left unchanged.

The next thing that we see in this verse is "that ye may prove what is good," and this in the Greek literally means "that you can test or to approve as in discerning to know what is good or benefit". So our intellect gets renovated so that we can discern what is going to benefit. But what does it benefit? Let's read on! Verse two goes on to say "and acceptable" meaning in the Greek literally " fully agreeable or well pleasing". Then we read "and perfect". I want to actually share the entire definition from the Strong's Hebrew and Greek Dictionary for the word "perfect" used in this verse.

The Greek word is teleios
It is pronounced tel'-i-os
From G5056; complete (in various applications of labor, growth, mental and moral character, etc.); neuter (as noun, with G3588) completeness: - of full age, man, perfect.

I'm not sure why the word perfect was used in the King James version, but I like the word "complete" and how it applies to the meaning of God's will in this verse.

The last part of this verse seems very clear "will of God" but I believe that we hear about the will of God so much these days that we tend to roll all three words up into somewhat of a package that becomes more of a "plan". In doing this we miss out on something that has much more meaning! You see God has something for each of us call "His will". Let's look at the definition for "will" from the dictionary also.

The Greek word is thelēma
It is pronounced thel'-ay-mah
From the prolonged form of G2309; a determination (properly the thing), that is, (actively) choice (specifically purpose, decree; abstractly volition) or (passively) inclination: - desire, pleasure, will.

When we put all of these literal meanings together this is what this verse would look like.

And do not fashion yourself according to the same pattern of the past; by implication of the world: but transform and change by the renovation of your intellect, that is mind (divine or human; in thought, feeling, or will), that you can test to approve and discern what is beneficial, fully agreeable and well pleasing, and complete purpose and determination of God according to His desire, pleasure and will.

Now when I read this verse, I can see that it is me that changes. God changes the way I think and make decisions concerning the things that God desires for me. This verse no longer means that the will of God is always going to be good, acceptable and perfect for ME, as I had thought it meant before. The tests are going to come, but they are a part of the will of God! How do I know this, you might ask? Because I have been renovated in my intellect that I may be able to test, approve and discern that which is beneficial, well pleasing and complete purpose of God's desire for me. That's an awesome realization, isn't it?

The next time you feel a test, like Abraham's famine, coming on in your life; read this verse and remember that God has determined something that will be beneficial in His desire for your life, even in the time of testing!

Words of Wisdom

Rom 12:1-3 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. 2 And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God. 3 For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith.