June 29, 2002

Making Decisions

Question to be addressed:

How do we go about making decisions?

Discussion:

• This topic has very much to do with what we talked about last week, prayer. Why am I saying this? Because, an important part of the decision-making process is prayer.
• First, let’s talk a little bit about what this process is not.
• It’s not praying about something and waiting for a “little voice” to tell you what to do.
• It’s not praying for something and opening the Bible at random hoping for a verse that would point you in the right direction. Funny (kind of) story about this – Proverbs 30:2.
• It’s not looking for “signs” that confirm or infirm what you would like to do.
• A couple of examples that you might find useful as far as supporting what I just said can be seen in Paul’s epistles.
• In Philippians 2:25, he says: “I have thought it necessary (or reckoned) to send to you Epaphroditus.” He does not say that he had a vision to do that (although that happened too) but looking at the circumstances and the needs he made a decision that he was confident was pleasing to the Lord. (J. Piper)
• In 1 Corinthians, he says (talking to the Corinthians who had been squabbling among themselves): “Can it be that there is no man among you wise enough to decide between members of the brotherhood?” (1 Corinthians 6:5). He expects spiritual wisdom to be employed in the ordinary course of life when problems arise. (J. Piper)
• Making important decisions does require spiritual wisdom. What do I mean by that? What I mean is that it requires seeing things from God’s perspective.
• Most of us would prefer to have everything set up very nicely and in very concrete terms as to what we should do. Like I mentioned last time, we might think it would be wonderful if there were a “Guide to Choosing a College” book in the Bible. Precise and easy-to-understand instructions we can follow without thinking too much about them.
• Q: What are we to do when that kind of instructions cannot be gotten?
• Here are a couple of analogous situations that might shed some light on where I’m trying to get to.
• Many of us would rather have our parents tell us exactly what they want us to do, right? Oftentimes though, they just tell us “Well, I’m not going to tell you that you cannot do that, but I want you to use your judgment in deciding whether you should do that.” (In many cases, that’s a clear indication that they don’t want you to do that particular thing, and experience shows they’re usually right.)
• Another example, a servant might like it if his master told him what to do precisely. But a faithful servant knows what the master would have him do just because he knows his master well.
• In things that are not clearly addressed in the Word, we are in the same situation. We should be able to do what the Master would have us do just because we know Him so well.
• Q: How do we do that though? A few ingredients:
• spending time in the Word
• prayer
• corporate worship
• reading about His work throughout history
• When you’re faced with a tough decision you shouldn’t be asking yourself “What would Jesus do?” because even if you did know for sure you would have to be perfect to follow in His footsteps, but rather “What would God have me do?”
• Q: What does it mean to see things from God’s perspective?
• Well, it means to set up goals that are sanctioned by the Word. What is God’s purpose since the very beginning of creation? His purpose has been that His creation (His chosen people, in particular) might worship and praise Him and have fellowship with Him.
• One question that automatically comes to mind when you have to choose between options is the following:
• “Which of these options will put me in a situation where I will be better placed to serve God and extend the reach of His Kingdom?”
• or “Will this endeavor help me be a better Christian?”
• or “Will this option enable me to shine Christ’s light before unbelievers?”
• or (ultimately) “Is this going to bring glory to God?”
• This would be principle number one: Which of these courses of action would bring most glory to God and would best enable me to serve Him?
• If there is a tie, we move on with other considerations although principle number one should be treated most seriously.
• The next thing you can do is to ask the advice of your family – i.e., your parents (your siblings might be just as clueless as you are). Since they’re your family you know for sure that they (kind of J) have to care about and for you. This implies that they want whatever is best for you. Of course, this does not make their opinion infallible but it should definitely be a strong factor in your decision.
• Once you have done this, the next thing you should do is to ask the advice of more experienced Christian people. And you can usually tell who these people are.
• One quick note here, knowledge of one particular subject does not make someone an expert on life. That is a terrible fallacy that you can see in action on the news pretty often. “Dr. So-and-So, Jr., with a PhD in Computer Science believes that the crisis in the fast-food industry (totally hypothetical example) is caused by people’s lack of familiarity with the UNIX operating system.” “Ooooh, that must be it then! He’s a doctor after all! These people tend to be very smart!” No doubt, he might be brilliant but in things that he has no idea about he’s just as clueless as I am. Knowledge of one subject or of facts does not make one an expert on all things. (Romanians have a special status here. They are born with knowledge about everything from carpet cleaning to building a rocket. J)
• Getting back to our topic, though, you can tell who these people that you could ask are. People who have been through similar situations (it might be that they are doctors and such!) and could give you some kind of insight. At least you might be able to learn from their mistakes. (There’s a saying: “Whoever does not learn from his own mistakes is foolish, but whoever does not learn from others’ mistakes is a complete idiot.”)
• If you have reached, this point you have accumulated enough information (and even wisdom) to be able to move towards a decision. Before that though, you do not have to forget the practical side of things. That is just as important!
• I mentioned the example about going to school in Alaska or Texas and I’m sure you can come up with many more. Or if it’s a job that we’re talking about you might want to look at how the company has done over the last few years in the stock market. Is it a strong company or is it likely to have problems?
• These aspects might seem like really minute but they are definitely important. Example: when I changed jobs about a year ago, I sat down and made two lists (I’m fond of lists, what can I say?), one for each company. In each list, I put advantages as +1 and disadvantages as –1. After I went through the list, I added them up and the one with a greater number won! I’m sure they’re still talking about the close finish! J You get the idea, however.
• When it comes to certain decisions, the practical aspect might eliminate a great deal of the options and could be one of the earlier steps in the process.
• One aspect that is comprised in the practical aspect we’ve mentioned is made up of your preferences as well.
• You’re not going to consider going to medical school if you faint at the sight of blood. And you’re not going to go study computer science if you still have doubts about working the microwave (although here there are exceptions; you know who we (you) are! J). And you’re definitely not going into public relations if you have a speech disability (again you know we (you) are! J).
• We have looked at four principles:
• First and foremost, look at the decision from God’s perspective. And how do we do that? By spending time in the Word, praying, and worshipping our most awesome God so that we get to know Him better and get to be more like Christ so that our minds thus renewed might see God’s perspective.
• Second, ask you family.
• Third, find an experienced Christian who you know might be able to give you some insight into the problem.
• Fourth, look at the practical aspects and consequences.
• Last, but definitely not least, look at the decision from God’s perspective.