Monday: Making the Right Choices
We all know very well the importance of the choices we make. And we all know, too, how wrong choices can very negatively impact our lives and the lives of others. The question is, How can we know how to make the right choices?
The following verses give us some general steps that can help us in our quest to make the right decisions. What are these steps?
Image © Lifeway Coll. Goodsalt.com
In every important decision we make, how crucial that we go to the Lord in prayer, that we make sure our choice will not lead us to violate God’s law in any way, or even the principles in His Word. How crucial that we trust in God, that we surrender our choice to Him; that is, we must pray that the choices we make will glorify Him and that we are ready to surrender our own desires if they go against His plan for our lives. Many times, too, wise counselors can be a great help as we seek to make choices. In the end, we can have great assurance knowing that God loves and wants what’s best for us, and that if we in faith and humility surrender our lives to Him, we can move ahead in faith on the choices we make.
| How do you go about making big choices in your life? What, if any, spiritual steps do you take in seeking to make these choices? |
(41)
Computer programmers understand the complexity of decision making. If ... then ... else statements are often sprinkled liberally through most computer programs. However, such decisions are essentially binary, where the program has only two choices that it can follow. Most real-life decisions are more complex and once again in "computer speak" are best represented using the "fuzzy logic" algorithms. Such decisions are made after weighing up all the factors that may have an influence on that decision.
We used to play a game with our family called Scruples, which posed situations that were dilemmas. You were given a situation where you had to decide what action to take to solve it. The problem was that any action you took had an undesirable side effect. That is pretty much how it is in real life. Anybody who has been a school administrator can probably tell you stories of agonizing over an administrative decision that is not going to be universally accepted. (If you want to see a similar international situation, read about the current Brexit crisis in the UK)
In living our Christian lives we will often have to make choices where the best path is not clear. We no longer have the Urim and Thummim on the breastplate of the high priest to guide us. Advice like "Let the Holy Spirit lead" sounds good but what does it mean. Following the leading or the Holy Spirit often means doing something practical; like gathering information, talking to wise people you trust, sometimes waiting patiently as well as praying.
By the way there was no chaos before creation.Genesis 1:2 the earth was without form and void.God created the earth out of nothing.To say that there was chaos that sacrilege or troublesome.revelation 22:18-19.
1) be in a commited relationship with Jesus
2) be prepared to say thy will not mine
3) consult His Word for principles
4) remember how He led you in the past
5) consult with godly friends
6) look out for opening or closing doors
7) make a decision and step out in faith
Something positive always comes from the good choices we make,and will give us more strength to walk with the Lord.when daniel and his friends entered babylon,they were just seen as mere slaves and nobody even recognised that they were from a royal family.Things changed when they implemented what they had learned from home by eating the right diet and worshiping the true God,this made God to use them to uplift His name in the heathen kingdom of babylon.we still serve the same God who is ready to use us mightly to uplift His name in a world that is full of errors.All that we need is already given in the bible(examples of good and bad choices,consequences,lessons,rebukes,encouragments,hope etc),all we need is to be serious learn and do the right thing that's when we will make it safe home and others who haven't known will know that there is a GOD in heaven to be worshipped.
Steps to follow for making the right choices in any situation in life.
1- Pray
2- Ask God for wisdom and discernment
3-Listen to the word of God and obey
4- Read the Bible and be inspired by its message
5- Trust God, lean on his promises and do not lean on your own understanding
6- seek counsels from trustworthy people
And I add this last one: from of the above process, be courageous to act in the way the spirit has convinced us to act.
Pray, ask for wisdom, be obedient, read the Word, trust and decide with God, let the Lord guide, ask for a lot of advise (study your way).
These might be a few hints on decisions, but the most important of all is to have faith. I see people everywhere who do not have a clue about their beliefs. They go about thinking that what "great and inteligent men" concluded is enough for them, so why thinking on their own and concluding by themselves?
Eventhough science still hangs on to a bunch of theories, statements that never got to become laws!
I rather have faith in my own and little experience! And one thing I've learned is that only God knows the future - is there a better partner then?
I am reading a book entitled Convicted. It is about two men, one black, the other white, in which the Anglo was a cop and the African American framed by him and thrown in jail. They become, eventually, Christians and best friends (the white cop is eventually discovered to be doing illegal drug busts, etc. and he himself went to prison as well). It's a great story, but the part I want to share is Jameel's story, the black man framed by the white cop, and his realizing it was his choices that got him in a bad spot.
When at 15 years of age, he had discounted his dad's advice not to go riding about with certain friends because he would find trouble. He still got into the car of his friends only to find later that the friend had car jacked it. They got pulled over, arrested, and jailed. He hadn't chosen his dad's advice and that got him into trouble.
Then as far as the framing went, he realized that his stubborn waiting for a ride down to a local convenience store on a cold Michigan day only a short distance away, with a man he didn't know, was pure stupidity in his neighborhood. The guy he got a ride with was a drug dealer. Both times he was arrested, Jameel came to realize it was his choices that landed him in a really bad place.
Good choices coming out of a willingness to address our own flawed self are difficult, they require a healthy distrust of our motives and inclinations. A prayerful dependence upon God's leading. Bad choices often come to us due to our lack of a healthy respect for our proneness to choose things that fulfill a selfish desire.
I have learnt that good choices come after we seek God in prayer and not leaning on our own understanding