According to a recent study, the average adult makes 35,000 decisions every single day. Some of the choices we face are no-brainers. Choices like deciding what to wear to work, or how to turn chicken into yet another delicious meal, are not life or death decisions.
Other times, we’re tasked with making choices that can seriously effect our future. Decisions about your career, who to marry, whether or not to have children, start a business, or launch out in your calling are scary. There’s so much uncertainty and as creatures of comfort, all of us want to minimize pain.
Whenever I see my children about to make a poor decision that will certainly have negative consequences, I caution them, “Make good choices!” Similarly, your Heavenly Father wants you to make good choices and He absolutely wants you to be successful.
Because you will face decisions that have the potential to have a major impact on your life, we’re going to examine a biblical framework for making better decisions every time — boosting your chances of a successful outcome.
1. Make Sure You Have All The Facts
“Judge not according to the appearance, but judge righteous judgment.”
John 7:24
We live in an age of misinformation and disinformation. People are quick to make snap judgements without being well informed. Even as Christians, sometimes we’re too quick to draw conclusions.
Before you make an important choice, make sure you have all the facts and have examined the issue from many angles. If something doesn’t seem quite right, trust the Spirit and do a deeper dive before making a serious commitment.
2. Surround Yourself With Wise People
“For by wise counsel thou shalt make thy war: and in multitude of counsellors there is safety.”
Proverbs 24:6
If there’s one thing that successful people have in common, they surround themselves with other successful people. When they face a challenge, they know exactly who to turn to.
Who do you turn to when you have a difficult decision to make? Your ability to take wise council from others is critical to your own success. In life, you will face challenges that are bigger than yourself. When this happens, you can gain wisdom by seeking advice from someone who has experienced success in that area.
Conversely, the worse thing you can do is take advice from someone who is worse off than yourself. Just because a person is a great friend, that doesn’t mean they’re the best counselor for every problem you encounter.
If you don’t have relationships where you can draw wisdom, remember that you live in the digital age. You have access to all sorts of resources from books to podcasts. You’re sure to find someone who has successfully navigated your situation.
3. Pay Attention to Warning Signs
“See that ye refuse not him that speaketh. For if they escaped not who refused him that spake on earth, much more shall not we escape, if we turn away from him that speaketh from heaven:”
Hebrews 12:25
If you look back on your life, you can probably find more than one instance when you could have avoided lots of pain if you would have heeded the warning signs.
God is faithful to show us when we’re about to go in the wrong direction, but many times, we’re way too stubborn. How many people have you known that thought they could try recreational drugs, pornography, or alcohol, only to find themselves addicted? Or how many people thought, it’s just one credit card — and before they knew it, they were deeply in debt?
Sometimes, we do ourselves a great disservice by refusing to heed the warning signs all around us. If you see that many people have fallen into the same hole you’re headed towards, take a page out of their book and avoid it all costs. Don’t think that you’ll beat the odds just because it’s you and you can handle it.
4. Stick to Your Goals
“A good name is better than precious ointment…”
Ecclesiastes 7:1
There are some things that money can’t buy. Your integrity and your reputation are precious. Once they are destroyed, they are very hard to repair.
Before you make any decision, ask yourself if the action you’re about to take will help you become more of the person that you want to be or will it detract from your goals as an individual.
5. Don’t Repeat Past Mistakes
“Like a dog that returns to its vomit is a fool who repeats his folly.”
Proverbs 26:11
There is no disgrace in making a mistake. That’s how we learn. Even children mature by making mistakes and learning from them. But when it comes to making decisions, perhaps the worse thing we can do is to repeatedly do the same painful thing over and over, expecting a different result.
If you’re in a difficult situation now, don’t just rush through it to alleviate the pain; think about what you can learn from it.
I’ve learned never to rush a decision. I don’t care what deadline is approaching, if I don’t have peace from God, I don’t move forward. God who created the heavens and the earth, is able to make everything work for my good when I put my trust in Him. For me, this goes back to point #4. One of my personal goals is to include God in everything I do.
What about you; what mistakes have you learned to never repeat?
