Decision Making Made Simple

There are a lot of decision we have to make in a day. Some of them are as simple as turning right or left. Others seem to be of greater importance, like which courses of study to choose or whether to buy that house you visited yesterday. But sometimes the simple choices can have a far greater impact on our day than the big ones. So how do we know? How do we choose?

I may not have the answer to that for you but I know what works for me .I bring it all down to one common denominator that I can understand in all circumstances: Choose Jesus.

Everyday I am faced with all kinds of circumstances that I have no control over. For example, last night my phone froze at 1:48 am. It has never happened before. I had no control over it. The problem is that my phone is my alarm clock, so when I was suppose to be getting up at 5 am I kept sleeping. At 6:15 am I woke up but by then I was already 15 minutes late opening our family store. Without thinking I went into action and got myself out the door. I was left with a decision: do I complain about it and allow it to ruin my day, or do I choose Jesus, trust him that all will be well and allow that joy to continue in me. I choose Jesus.

Then, after opening our store late, I discovered that the water had been cut off in part of the city because of a mistake a construction crew made. I had no control over it. I had a choice: let this provoke my earlier frustration and declare it to be a horrible day, or, choose Jesus and ask him for encouragement and support. He reminded me that I had bottled water so I could continue making coffee. But I didn't need it because he arranged to have the water back on before it became a problem. I t always works out when I choose Jesus.

There are hundreds of circumstances in our day that we can either allow to rob us of our joy and peace or that give us the opportunity to increase our trust in Jesus. We have no excuse for declaring that a day is horrible. In fact, it is rather embarrassing as we demonstrate our lack of faith and trust.

Now this is a bit different than deciding to choose left or right, or which courses to take, but if we continue practicing our faith and trust in Jesus, we will become more sensitive to right decision in the Kingdom. Jesus told us not to chase after the same priorities as the world does. Kingdom values are different. He told us to chase after the things of the Kingdom, in other words, choose Kingdom values. When we base our decisions on these things, choosing Jesus, we will soon begin to recognize which decisions honour our Father.

If you don't care about honouring the Father then you go right ahead and do whatever you think is best for you. But if honouring the Father is at the center of your day and decision making, practice choosing Jesus in the circumstances of your day and when it is time to make the big decisions you will know exactly what you need to do. Have an excellent walk with Jesus today and my your living glorify him.