Perhaps the greatest obstacle to understanding more of God’s will for us
is our own infatuation, even obsession, with us with ourselves. In the next
verse right after saying, “ . . . that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect” -Paul says, “For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among
you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned” (Romans 12:3). What is the wall between us and God’s will? We are. Our pride.
Our thinking of ourselves more highly than we should.
If we wanted to stay conformed to this world, then we should see and evaluate everything, including God himself, through ourselves based on how he (or she, or it) benefits, affirms, and highlights us. But if we want to resist being conformed to this world, and to renew our minds, adapting our wills instead to God’s will, we will not think so highly of ourselves. We’ll begin to see how small we are, and strive to make our tiny, flawed, forgettable existence highlight the massive, flawless, and eternal glory of God. And we will be
happier before his glory than we ever were pursuing our own.