Decisions, Decisions

Introduction

Insecurity, Worry, Sleeplessness, so many decisions (lesson options)

What are some big and small decisions you had to make this week? (FOMO kept Selah from enjoying her decision.)

Romans 14:5 (KJV 1900)

5 One man esteemeth one day above another: another esteemeth every day alike. Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind.

How Healthy Is Your Practice of Planning and Decision Making?

____ 1. My planning and my decision-making process shows that I believe that doing God’s will is my most important responsibility.

____ 2. I am aware that my desire to be well seen of others tempts me to say yes to more opportunities than God intends, or to say no to doors God has opened because of fear failure.

____ 3. My daily schedule and decision-making process shows that I believe time with God is more important than the things I do.

____ 4. I consistently allow sufficient time for prayer and reflection before making important decisions.

____ 5. I am willing to bear short-term pain for making an unpopular decision in order to secure the long-term good.

____ 6. I am careful not to make decisions when I am emotionally triggered (upset, frustrated, angry, etc.).

____ 7. I am profoundly aware of my human tendency toward self-deception — that I readily confuse my will with God’s will.

We Make Plans and Take Action without God

Abraham and Sarah waited eleven years for God to provide their promised son. When God failed to meet their timeline, they grew impatient and decided Abraham would sleep with Hagar, the family’s Egyptian maidservant. Ishmael was born, and we all know that only trouble and heartbreak followed (Genesis 16:1 – 4).

Moses impulsively killed an Egyptian in a misguided effort to secure justice for his people. His rash decision cost him forty years in the desert, relationships with his adoptive family, and very nearly his life (Exodus 2:11 – 23).

The ancient Israelites wanted to be like other nations who were led by kings. Instead of having an invisible God as their leader, they demanded a human king to protect them from their enemies. “We want a king over us. Then we will be like all the other nations” (1 Samuel 8:19 – 20). The prophet Samuel tried to dissuade them, but the people refused. Tensions, conflicts, and idolatries followed, ultimately resulting in a divided kingdom (1 Kings 12).

Solomon planned, developed strategic partnerships, and negotiated deals to build a bigger and better kingdom for God on the earth. To the average citizen, his accomplishments were no doubt an obvious success and evidence of God’s approval and blessing. But God deemed Solomon’s efforts worthless self-aggrandizements — Solomon was making his plans without God.

Advice given to someone about to take on a new level of leadership.

I am afraid that you will despair of an end to the many demands that are made upon you and become calloused . . . It would be much wiser to remove yourself from these demands even for a while than to allow yourself to be distracted by them and led, little by little, where you certainly do not want to go. Where? To a hard heart. Do not go on to ask what that is; if you have not been terrified by it, it is yours already.

In other words if you’re not concerned that your heart might become hard, it already is.

The emotionally unhealthy Christian is someone who operates in a continuous state of emotional and spiritual deficit, lacking emotional maturity and a “being with God” sufficient to sustain their “doing for God.”

When you do not have the ability to make decisions in your life then you are left with one of two options. Do everything and hope it is enough or do nothing and hope you can avoid the consequences.

They do more activity for God than their relationship with God can sustain.

Remember the story of Martha and Mary. Why isn’t there another story of these sisters that “balance” things out. Time with God will lead to us seizing the right opportunities when they come and doesn’t promote laziness.

Matters of Conscience

Should we meet food offered to idols. Yes, No, Maybe

This type of problem solving is called discernment.

One man esteemeth one day above another: another esteemeth every day alike. Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind. Romans 14:5

Romans 14:5 KJV

5 One man esteemeth one day above another: another esteemeth every day alike. Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind.

In other words, minor matters do not call for mushy faith or flimsy convictions. They call for clear faith and full conviction. It’s the best way we can see now for us to act.

We must remember that acting against conscience is sin. Romans 14:23 And he that doubteth is damned if he eat, because he eateth not of faith: for whatsoever is not of faith is sin.

Romans 14:23 KJV

23 And he that doubteth is damned if he eat, because he eateth not of faith: for whatsoever is not of faith is sin.

Romans 14:8 For whether we live, we live unto the Lord; and whether we die, we die unto the Lord: whether we live therefore, or die, we are the Lord’s.

Romans 14:8 KJV

8 For whether we live, we live unto the Lord; and whether we die, we die unto the Lord: whether we live therefore, or die, we are the Lord’s.

Be people of convictions:

Romans 14:20 For meat destroy not the work of God. All things indeed are pure; but it is evil for that man who eateth with offence.

We make following God’s will far harder than it needs to be, because we’re looking for the wrong thing. We do this for a few different reasons:

We want to please God, although our misdirected piety makes following Him more mysterious than it’s supposed to be.

Some of us are simply, by our nature, quite timid, and prone to be too cautious.

Some of us are searching for perfect fulfillment in this life, ignoring the fact that perfect fulfillment does not exist on this side of eternity. Because every experience and event must be rewarding, every decision in life takes on weighty significance.

We have too many choices; we are overburdened by options and thus cannot make a decision for fear of making the wrong one and missing out. “Our freedom to do anything and go anywhere ends up feeling like bondage more than liberty” (p. 37).

Finally, we might just be cowards. We want to know that everything is going to be fine before we do anything; but that’s not how God operates. The future is unknowable by design. That is why we call it a walk of faith. (Eccl. 7:14).

Ecclesiastes 7:14 (KJV 1900)

14 In the day of prosperity be joyful, but in the day of adversity consider: God also hath set the one over against the other, to the end that man should find nothing after him.

I’m arguing that there is, in Romans 12:2, an implicit normative pattern for discerning the will of God.

And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God. Romans 12:2

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Philippians 1:9-10

9 And this I pray, that your love may abound yet more and more in knowledge and in all judgment;

10 That ye may approve things that are excellent; that ye may be sincere and without offence till the day of Christ.

There’s a fork in the road and one path is to be chosen over the other. How do you discern the excellent path?

Sincere & without offense - it is what we want!

That’s what we want. We want our lives to have been marked by making righteous choices and bearing righteous fruit.

Both of those texts set a normal pattern of discerning the will of God by a transformed mind and a love informed by knowledge and discernment.