Making Godly Decisions
If you were to boil life down so that all that is left is its essence I believe that in the bottom of the pot you would see the relationships we have. Life is all about relationships. We make these relationships healthy and enjoyable by making godly decisions. The Lord Jesus Christ always made the right decision. He did this by relying on the Holy Spirit.
There shall come forth a Rod from the stem of Jesse, and a Branch shall grow out of his roots. The Spirit of the LORD shall rest upon Him, The Spirit of wisdom and understanding, The Spirit of counsel and might, The Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the LORD. His delight is in the fear of the LORD, and He shall not judge by the sight of His eyes, nor decide by the hearing of His ears. Isaiah 11:1-3
Through the power of the Holy Spirit Jesus did not judge by what He saw nor did He make decisions by what He heard. He made judgments and decisions based on the wisdom, understanding and counsel He received from the Holy Spirit. He becomes our example in godly decision making. While we are not sinless like our Savior we do have the same Holy Spirit as He. Therefore, we can have in greater and greater measure the same wisdom, understanding and counsel He had. This is a phenomenal reality!
The struggle we all face in decision making is in who we choose as our source of wisdom. Will we choose our own wisdom or the wisdom of God?
Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths. Proverbs 3:5-6
The potential to make better and better decisions with our lives and have better and better interpersonal relationships with our God and our fellow man is before us! There will always be plenty of people who will ignore God and His wisdom. This will always make life challenging. However, we can determine by the grace God gives us that we will become godly decision makers. And the more of us that move forward in this humble determination the better our friendships become, the better our families become, the better our church fellowships become and the better our communities become. I guess it comes down to choosing to be a part of the solution or remaining part of the problem! Don’t wait for everyone else to start making better life decisions. Begin with yourself.
The key to such decision making is learning to depend on the Holy Spirit. Believe it or not, this lack of dependence is most often in the areas of our strengths, not our weaknesses. It is in the area of our strengths that we tend to become self-sufficient. We start thinking that we know enough or have enough to make good decisions on our own. Yet, if we are to become all God wants us to be and move into the sphere of living He desires we must in all areas of our lives cease depending on our own understanding.
Overcoming self-dependency is a life-long battle. Victory in this battle must include the continual development of our personal relationship with the Lord by coming to Him through His word and prayer with a humble heart. John 15:5 will help us as we read the words of Jesus. “Without Me you can do nothing.” This certainly strikes against our thoughts that we can make godly decisions on our own. Don’t expect your self-dependent pride to go away without a real fight. You’ll have to take it to the cross every day.
Let’s covenant together to pursue our God and trust Him to enable us to make godly decisions with our lives. His Holy Spirit is ready to help us.
Pastor Dan
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