Eric wrote, "Given this premise, how do people who "have a heart like Jesus", and therefore consider it rational to do the things you describe determine God's prompting? Do they then do the rational? What is the role of subjectivity?"
I replied:
Good questions. I'll try to answer.
What one would say is rational would always be in the eye of the beholder. As we mature in Jesus, some of the things we once thought impossible and irrational become commonplace and completely rational in the different mental framework we have developed. If someone's heart was soundly in tune with Jesus, then they would always follow Jesus and do what seems rational in their mind, but those rational actions would appear irrational to many around them. Having said that, I don't know if we're ever in tune with Jesus enough to not have to step out in faith and do something that we think is crazy. Churches don't grow because the people in them aren't crazy enough when it comes to ways of loving those around them.
As for subjectivity, that is a broad question. What are you getting at on that one? I'll take a stab, but it might be at the wrong thing.
When it comes to what God's specific will is for my life or your life, it will be different. Those wills might line up at times (like when we ministered at the same church) but they will then diverge into different paths and different callings. I think God's specific will is very subjective with objective principles underlying it. Those principles would be loving God, loving our neighbor, speaking the truth in love, and the like. But the way that would look for most people would be different. Unfortunately, we tend to want it spoon fed to us rather than to struggle what his will is. And we also get in a lot of trouble when we confuse the subjective calling on our life with objective principles and expect everyone to be like us.
It's like Derek Webb in his song "A New Law". I quoted another line the other day. But the one relevant here is, "Don’t teach me how to live like a free man; just give me a new law." We need to pray and seek God's specific will for our life rather than see His will in someone else's life and imitate it.
