Decision Making

Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unlovable, 

always abounding in the work of the Lord, 

forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord.

~1 Corinthians 15:58~

Think about some of the decisions that you have made recently. Think big (like choosing to speak kindly to the lady who was totally out of line); think small (like choosing to get up a few minutes early to be better prepared for Sunday). 

What were the consequences of your decisions? 

How did your decisions affect the people around you?

(Do you ever make bad decisions? I really fought really hard this morning to speak kindly to that lady. No one would have blamed me for speaking in the heat of the moment, because she was wrong, but it would have been wrong of me to lash out.)

Moral of the story – we have all made choices. Everyone of us has made good decisions and bad decisions. Good news is we have all done it.

Think about Moses. He had a ton of choices to make. He grew up as a prince in the palace of Pharaoh. He easily could have chosen to enjoy the luxuries and wickedness that surrounded him. He could have chosen to worship the many, many gods of the Egyptians. But instead he chose to embrace the faith of his parents – who had nursed him until he was maybe four years old. He made  a choice.

He chose to kill an Egyptian guard. He could have used his influence to see that the man was punished for his wrong doings toward the Israelites, or he could have sought reform regarding the treatment of the Israelites. But instead of choosing a good thing, he chose to kill someone.

When Moses ran away from Egypt, God told Moses that He wanted Moses to lead the people of Israel out of captivity. God wanted Moses to confront the rulers that he had shamed when he killed the Egyptian guard. The rulers who were his friends and mentors, his buddies. Not only was God asking Moses to confront them, that was the easy part. God was asking Moses to lead some four million people on a journey through the desert for a few months. And Moses didn’t feel qualified. He could have chosen to say no, but quite bashfully he decided to obey God’s instruction and become the leader of the Israelites.

Moses made a couple of really bad decisions. There were some doozies in there, but the majority of the time, Moses chose to obey God. I mean the decision to lead the 4 million grumpy children of Israel was a daily decision. Think about it – they were slaves always told what to do and when to do it, and Moses effectively gave them a way to freedom. But freedom came with a cost – the slaves had to realize that they would have to follow a different leader. A shamed leader by man's standards, that God hand-picked from the wilderness 40 years later to lead them in circles in the desert while they lived off military rations for another 40 years. Of course they were grumpy! And Moses had to choose to lead them with wisdom and sincerity and grace for the entire 40 years. The Bible clearly tells us that Moses wasn’t a perfect leader, but the majority of the time over the 100 year span of his life, Moses daily made the choice to obey God. He followed God. He listened to God’s plans even when they seemed a little obscure or entirely impossible.

Why would Moses chose to follow God the way that he did? FAITH

Everyday we face similar choices.

•       Do I have a good attitude about school today?
•       Do I obey my mom and dad?
•       Do I be kind to my younger or older siblings?
•       Do I do my devotions?
•       Do I pray?
•       Do I speak up when my friends talk about wrong things?
•       Do I encourage my friends to do right?
•       Do I listen in church and sit next to people who encourage me to learn from God’s Word?
•       Do I set the ipod or radio or whatever to music that honors God?
•       Do I appreciate the music that we sing in youth group because we are praising God, even if it is a different style than I prefer? Or do I grumble because it is different?

You have choices to make all day every day. You can choose to do right, or you can choose to do wrong. That choice is always up to you.

What would have happened if…

1.             Moses stayed in Midian instead of returning to Egypt?

2.             Moses refused to go to Mount Sinai?

3.             Moses refused to stay with the Israelites for 40 years in the desert, and instead tried to get    

                into the promised land himself?

The average person makes over 200 decisions a day! Of course, many of those decisions (like what to wear or what to have for breakfast) only take a few seconds and little thought. Other decisions however, can have a big effect on what happens in our lives. Decision-making can be fun if we approach the choices we face in a way that honors God.

So how do you make wise decisions:

1. Pray for wisdom.
2. Find out what the Bible has to say about your decisions.
3. Can you see God working in this particular situation?
4. Seek the advice and wisdom of an older, reliable Christian friend.