Where is that defining moment, when we rise above those outside influences and develop our own individuality—the moment of decision? There are powerful influences clamoring for that place inside of you that makes choices, whether they are patterns of eating, shopping or faith. We can make decisions which are painful and difficult and may even isolate us from the world around. Or we can make easy decisions where there is a great company of people and pats on the back. But, at the end of the day, the decision is yours to make.
For instance, when a man gets caught one late one night looking at Internet porn, that ugly moment represents a long path of choices and years of small compromises. If you were to have told the once young dreamer and idealist that he would one day be caught in such a scenario, he would have violently denied the very thought. This is what makes decisions so powerful, one will always lead to another, and it can be like a landslide. They may be insignificant and harmless at the start, but will inevitably head us toward disaster. It’s called compromise, not just with God, but ourselves, goals and dreams. Decide enough times to submit to a fleshly desire and, like a tumor on the face, it will be integrated into the features of your character. Neglect godly wants and they will shrivel like an unused muscle, waning in their authority.
Decisions also have creative power. Decide to make small, even painful steps towards that mythical self you have always dreamed you can be, and in time dreams will become reality. That is God’s will for you. He places dreams in us so we are forced to walk outside our comfort zone.
God has created us with the ability to make free choices. Our Father in heaven does not power trip; He is not a control freak. He desires us to stand on our own two feet. He has given man great freedom. The question is what are you going to do with that freedom of decision?
Decision-making has creative power. Decisions have their own inertia that can build in momentum. One man’s decision to act on a dream resulted in IBM, one of the largest companies in the world. The world is full of dreamers, but dreaming is not enough. Without the power of decisiveness, dreams will fall to the ground and decay into oblivion.
Bad decisions have greater virtue than indecisiveness. There is no courage required in bobbing down a lukewarm river of life, making no attempt to determine the direction your life is taking. We learn from failure, investing and taking risks. Even bad decisions can lead to repentance and spiritual growth.
Take a moment and look at your life, your daily living. How much of what you do reflects decisiveness or simply playing out habits and unconscious behavioral patterns that have nothing to do with decision? For example, if you smoke, you do not exercise decision every time you light up a cigarette. Consider your options, the impact on health and whether it is a wise direction you are taking. The decision to smoke may have been made years ago, where with a great act of will, you forced your body, dragging it kicking and screaming into accepting the inhaling of toxic carbon into the lungs. Once the body conditioned its entire chemical homeostasis to the introduction of cigarettes, you could then place the act of smoking into the unconscious, like breathing and blinking.
Related Article: The Responsibility Of Choice