Have you ever considered?

These days, I don't worry as much about big choices or accidentally stepping off God's path for my life. But I don't think it's because I'm seeking the Lord any less. In fact, I think it's just the opposite.

There is no figure in the Bible who received full instructions for his life's choices, no one for whom the future wasn't a mystery. Patriarchs, prophets and priests, monarchs, martyrs and magi-they all had to walk in close step with God. While it was God's choice to specially reveal a bit of His will for a person's life, no one got the whole picture

Godly men and women had to trust God and stay close to Him. This meant seeking wisdom, talking with (and listening to) God in prayer, and looking to see where He was already at work in the world. It also meant obeying God's Word, even when doing so was costly. The faithful who have gone before us were no different than you or me. And the same keys to living life in step with God are available to us today.

This kind of life is dangerous, though. It requires yielding to God, day in and day out. It requires giving up a check-the-boxes, seven-easy-steps-to-a-better-life approach to religion. It requires giving up control. It requires a relationship.

Some may tell you that this relationship never leads to anything difficult or painful, but that's not true. The biblical heroes who walked with God before us did not stroll down a path of pure blessing, without trial or struggle. Think about Stephen, the first Christian martyr. Or consider the apostle Paul and the tremendous suffering he endured, walking in close step with the Holy Spirit to spread the Gospel across the Mediterranean. Chained. Whipped. Beaten. Imprisoned. Shipwrecked. And beaten some more.

Perhaps, when it comes to our choices in life, our indecision does not come from a place of piety, but rather from a desire to avoid pain. In my own life, if I don't check myself, I will automatically assume that the "right" choice is the one that yields the biggest windfall of personal blessing. But it may be that submitting to the Lord will mean choosing the road with more struggling and heartache and that's not an easy thing to do.

If we're honest with ourselves, we have to ask: Is it possible that what we're really after is not God's will at all, but only His good gifts? Do we ever consider that God's calling on our lives may, in fact, lead us down a path that looks a lot like Paul's? We better because it might just be God's plan for your life.