© 1991 ANZURA, Australia & New Zealand Urantia Association
Speaking to Nicodemus, Jesus said:
“If you would be led by this spirit from above, very soon would you begin to see with the eyes of the spirit, and then by the wholehearted choice of spirit guidance would you be born of the spirit since your only purpose in living would be to do the will of your Father who is Heaven. And so finding yourself born of the spirit and happily in the kingdom of God, you would begin to bear in your daily life the abundant fruits of the spirit.” (UB 142:6.7)
That does not leave you humans much room to manoeuvre. But what is implied by ‘doing the will of God?’ I am going to let the Book do all the answering, at least most of it. The first thing is to get this earth life of yours into its right perspective. You must know by now that the book uses some pretty strange names for various celestial beings and groups thereof. Maybe that is because they have been translated from another language and culture. Whatever, there is a group of seraphim called the Quickeners of Morality who have this to say:
“Your short sojourn on Urantia, on this sphere of mortal infancy, is only a single link, the very first in the long chain that is to stretch across universes and through the eternal ages. It is not so much what you learn in this first life: it is the experience of living this life that is important. Even the work of this world, paramount though it is, is not nearly so important as the way in which you do this work.”
“The keys to the kingdom of heaven are: sincerity, more sincerity, and more sincerity. All men have these keys. Men use them — advance in spirit status by decisions, by more decisions, and by more decisions. The highest moral choice is the choice of the highest possible value, and always — in any sphere, in all of them — this is to choose to do the will of God. If man thus chooses, he is great, though he be the humblest citizen of Jerusem or even the least of mortals on Urantia.” (UB 39:4.13-14)
The perspective you are now supposed to have is that this earth life is but the beginning and to make the most of it, you need lots of experience involving decisions in which doing the will of God is of importance. Like deciding which is your favourite brand of beer, or the colour of your new dress. I joke, I think. Actually computers do neither. You now know what is important, but how, when, and where does one ‘do the will of God’. Back to the Book.
“Never forget there is only one adventure which is more satisfying and thrilling than the attempt to discover the will of the living God, and that is the supreme experience of honestly trying to do that divine will. And fail not to remember that the will of God can be done in any earthly occupation. Some callings are not holy and others secular. All things are sacred in the lives of those who are spirit led; that is, subordinated to truth, ennobled by love, dominated by mercy, and restrained by fairness justice. The spirit which my Father and I shall send into the world is not only the Spirit of Truth but also the spirit of idealistic beauty.” (UB 155:6.11)
Well that quotation told you when and where to choose to do the will of God, and if you remember the first quote, it is said that if you so choose, even the least of mortals on Urantia is great. So being important, being a great achiever, being rich and successful, none of that counts for much unless it happened to be the will of God for you. On UB 108:4.2, the Book says, “the Adjusters are the will of God,” and the next quotation expands on that theme.
“In the universes God the Father is, in potential, the overcontroller of matter, mind, and spirit. Only by means of his far-flung personality circuit does God deal directly with the personalities of his vast creation of will creatures, but he is contactable (outside of Paradise) only in the presences of his fragmented entities, the will of God abroad in the universes. This Paradise spirit that indwells the minds of the mortals of time and there fosters the evolution of the immortal soul of the surviving creature is of the nature and divinity of the Universal Father. But the minds of such evolutionary creatures originate in the local universes and must gain divine perfection by achieving those experiential transformations of spiritual attainment which are the inevitable result of a creature’s choosing to do the will of the Father in heaven.” (UB 1:3.6)
Obviously you mortals have got it made if you can just figure out how you should do the will of God. John asked the right question of Jesus. John asked Jesus, “Master, what is the kingdom of heaven?” and Jesus answered:
“The kingdom of heaven consists of these three essentials: first, recognition of the fact of the sovereignty of God; second, belief in the truth of sonship with God; and third, faith in the effectiveness of the supreme human desire to do the will of God — to be like God. And this is the good news of the gospel: that by faith every mortal may have all these essentials of salvation.” (UB 140:10.9)
So the desire to do the will of God equates with seeking to be like God. Now we are getting somewhere.
“That evening while teaching in the house, for it had begun to rain, Jesus talked at great length, trying to show the twelve what they must be, not what they must do. They knew only a religion that imposed the doing of certain things as the means of attaining righteousness — salvation. But Jesus would reiterate, ‘In the kingdom you must be righteous in order to do the work.’ Many times did he repeat, 'Be you therefore perfect, even as your Father in heaven is perfect.” (UB 140:10.1)
“Being” must precede “doing”. You will do the will of God if and when you are like God! But what is Godlike?
“And then said Jesus: You will stumble over my teaching because you are wont to interpret my message literally; you are slow to discern the spirit of my teaching. Again must you remember that you are my messengers; you are beholden to live your lives as I have in spirit lived mine. You are my personal representatives; but do not err in expecting all men to live as you do in every particular. Also must you remember that I have sheep not of this flock, and that I am beholden to them also, to the end that I must provide for them the pattern of doing the will of God while living the life of the mortal nature.” (UB 140:6.8)
On UB 153:3.2 Jesus says:
“I have so lived this life in the flesh as to inspire all men likewise ever to seek to know and do the will of the indwelling heavenly Father.” UB 153:3.2
So Jesus is your pattern, do not do as he did but to be as he was. Or in other words, know the life and teachings of Jesus, familiarise yourself with the mind of Jesus, and seek to put on the nature of Jesus. Inasmuch as you succeed in putting on the nature of Jesus, you will be like God, hence you will do the will of god. The key to The URANTIA Book teaching about the will of God is ‘being’- every day just a little more, in nature, like Jesus.
So cease worrying about what you should do. If God has something special for you, be assured he will arrange for you to be confronted. Relax and serve as you pass by. And when you have a decision to make, ask yourself what Jesus would do in the same circumstances.
One last quote. In explaining the true meaning of the golden rule to Nathaniel, Jesus said:
“And then last, but greatest of all, we attain the level of spirit insight and spiritual interpretation which impels us to recognise in this nule of life the divine command to treat all men as we conceive God would treat them. That is the universe ideal of human relationships. And this is your attitude toward all such problems when your supreme desire is ever to do the Father’s will.” (UB 147:4.9)
Bye for now and God bless,
Your friendly computer