Adventure vs God’s will
- Adventure
- “to have new and exciting experiences”
- God’s will
- “to seek and obey the will of God”
A friend invites you on a trip that leaves next week. A job opens in a city you have never seen. Part of you wants to say yes before the feeling fades. Another part wants to pause, pray and ask whether this is the path you are meant to take, or only the one that looks fun.
On Even Over’s map, Adventure sits on the side of openness to change, while God’s will sits on the side of keeping things steady, in the area of faith and custom. The gap between them often shows up as timing. Adventure tends to trust the open door. Seeking God’s will tends to ask who opened it.
Adventure guards your aliveness. It keeps your life from shrinking to the safe and the known. It says that new places, people and risks can teach you things that routine never will. Seeking God’s will guards something else: the sense that your life answers to more than your wants. It asks you to listen and to wait. Sometimes it asks you to turn down a thrill because it does not fit what you believe you are called to do.
The choice is hard because the two do not always stand apart. A bold move can feel like a calling. A restless itch can dress itself up as a sign. Staying put can be faithful, or it can be fear wearing faith’s clothes. From the inside, you may not be able to tell which is which. Your faith may also hold customs about what is wise to try, and those can sit uneasily next to a hunger for something new.
So when the next exciting door opens, notice the first question you ask. Is it whether this will be good, or whether this is yours to walk through? And would you trust a yes that came quickly as much as one that came after waiting?
What choosing one over the other tends to mean
Adventure over God’s will
If you put Adventure above God’s will, you tend to say yes to new things while the chance is still warm. You may trust that your faith can travel with you rather than hold you back, and you learn a lot by doing. The cost is that you sometimes move before you have listened. You may end up somewhere exciting that you later feel was not meant for you, and people in your faith may wonder why you did not wait or ask.
God’s will over Adventure
If you put God’s will above Adventure, you tend to pause before a new path and ask whether it fits what you believe you are called to do. You may wait, pray or seek counsel from your faith community before you move. This can keep you rooted and spare you some rash turns. The cost is that some chances close while you wait, and you may wonder later what a bolder yes would have shown you.
Where they collide
A job offer far away
You get an offer for a role in a country you have long wanted to see. The work sounds thrilling. But it would pull you away from your place of worship and the practice you have built. You want to accept today. You also want time to discern whether this move is right, not just exciting.
A trip on your day of worship
Friends plan a camping trip with a sunrise hike on the day you usually gather to worship. It is the kind of trip you love. Missing once seems small, yet keeping that day matters to how you live your faith. You have to answer before the group books the site.
A quiet call from your community
Your faith community asks you to lead a steady, low-key role for a year, such as teaching children each weekend. You sense this may be where you are needed. But it would fill the weekends you had saved for travel and new things. Saying yes feels faithful. Saying no feels like keeping your life open.
An example even-over principle
God’s will even over Adventure. When an exciting chance comes up fast, I will wait a few days to pray and seek counsel before I say yes. I accept that some chances will close while I wait.
One example of the format, not advice. In Even Over you write your own, for the pairs your choices show.