How Do We Live Wilder?

In my book Discovering God’s Calling and in many of my blog posts I talk about living wilder. But how do we take this idea and make it applicable? Can everyone live wilder? Or is this lifestyle only available to singles who are able to travel and explore this world? How do we live wilder?

What Does it Mean to Live Wilder?

When I say live wilder, I mean that we should live wild lives by following God’s ways rather than the ways of the world. It’s so easy to do what the world wants us to do and forget what God is calling us to do. That’s why I want my writing to center on this idea.

If we could just break our ties to this world and become un-tamed by the world then we will be free to follow God. I wish we had a button to press that would instantly sever the world’s influence on our decisions so we could live completely devoted to God.

Humanity can’t control wild animals. In the same way, I don’t want mankind to control me either. I only want to follow God as he leads me. This means doing many things the world finds absurd, stupid, and unbelievable. This is living wilder.

How Do I Live Wilder?

Living wilder doesn’t mean you need to live out in the woods or travel around the world. Living wilder simply means you set aside the world’s influence and follow God in all the radical ways he leads. This means anyone can live wilder. Whether you are a stay at home parent, a landscaper, an office worker, a high school student, or even a grandparent, you can always live wilder.

Why should I Live Wilder?

First and foremost, we should live wilder because we love God and want to be with him. As we set aside the world’s desires and follow God, we draw closer to God. We should also live this way because this is exactly what God commands us to do.

Colossians 3:1-5 says “If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory. Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry.”

But God loves you and calls you to things that are good for you. Perhaps he’ll call you to something that appears hard and bad in every way, but at the very core, God is helping us become more holy. As I’ve heard it said, “God is more concerned about your holiness than your happiness.”

However, this doesn’t negate the fact that God also wants you to be happy. Just look at Psalms 126:2 “Our mouths were filled with laughter, our tongues with songs of joy. Then it was said among the nations, ‘The Lord has done great things for them.’”

We follow God and give everything up to him because we love and trust him, but then God surprises us by taking all we gave up and gives us back something far more beautiful and wonderful.

The Living Wilder Adventure

When we follow God, he leads us down paths that lead us to trust in him with greater dependence. Maybe this will be financial, emotional, or situational dependence, but as we are forced to trust in God more, we will step further into the great adventure.

Adventure isn’t easy. It’s hard and typically physically or emotionally uncomfortable. That’s just what adventure is. However, when we follow God on this adventure our lives will be rich with meaning. Life will be exciting and meaningful. Life might not always feel like this in the moment, but you can look back at entire seasons with satisfaction.

You will know you are living a good life with meaning and adventure. Most importantly, you’ll know you are walking in obedience with God. And there’s nothing better than to walk in unity with our loving creator.

This is what it means to live wilder.

If you want to walk down this wild path, I’d encourage you to check out my book Discovering God’s Calling where I explain more about how to follow God, and share practical steps of how you can start walking down a meaningful and fulfilling path.

If you still don’t fully understand what it means to live wilder, I’d encourage you to check out my blog What Does it Mean to Live Wilder?