How To Manage Life Choices

How To Manage Life Choices

The college faculty were in their annual meeting when, suddenly, an angel

appears. Turning to the Dean, the angel said, "I will grant you one

of three choices -- infinite wisdom, infinite wealth or infinite health."

The Dean thought for a minute, then replied "Wisdom."

"So be it." and the angel disappeared.

In the silence that followed, the Dean sat thoughtfully, saying nothing and

staring off into the distance. Finally, one of the other faculty members

exclaimed, "Do you have anything to say? What words of wisdom can you

provide us?".

Said the Dean, "I should have taken the money."

Life has many choices, and doesn’t it seem at times, when we make one, we later have regrets about our decision and wished we had taken another. How do we manage the live choices around us?

Consider shopping. The average American supermarket carries around 36,000 items for sale. Crest offers 36 variations of its toothpaste in the choice of size, shape and flavor. Revlon has 158 different colors of lipstick and there are 200 new magazines which hit the market each year although the vast majority of those new editions will fail. Lets be honest, how often have you stood in front of an aisle of choices in the supermarket with a glazed look in your eyes as you were trying to decide which laundry detergent would be right for your clothes? Even at the checkout counter you are faced with choices, paper or plastic meaning how do you want to pay and what do you want your purchase put in.

The choices we make today have an impact on the decisions we will be making tomorrow. They establish a pattern and a foundation for our life. We ask people in the early stages of their life to make choices of careers which will effect their life down the road. Laura took key punch classes. I remember getting personal notes from her when we were dating written on the tops of cards. Get those out of order and you can have a real messed up message. There was a demand for trained key punch operators, that was until the computer was downsized and information stored in a better manner. And all those people, trained in the skilled job description as key punch operators were hitting the pavement because their life choice became a dead end job.

We can make good choices in life which will lead to our success, and we can make bad choices which will lead to our demise. A couple of weeks ago on survivors Kim had to chose between Ethan and Lex for the final vote. She chose Ethan and I believe her choice was the different between having won a million dollars and the 100,000 she received for second place. So how do we make the right ones?

Proverbs 2:5 tells us God gives out Wisdom free, is plainspoken in Knowledge and Understanding. The writer goes on to point out in verse 9-12 So now you can pick out what’s true and fair, find all the good trails! Lady Wisdom will be your close friend, and Brother Knowledge your pleasant companion. Good sense will scout ahead for danger, Insight will keep an eye out for you. They’ll keep you from making wrong turns, or following the bad directions.

I want to suggest five questions you should ask when making life choices which will keep you on the right path and off the road to destruction.

1. Is the choice in agreement with God’s Word?

To answer this, you first of all need to know God’s Word. Are you in a devotional study? Are you reading through the Message with us this year? What plan do you have to get God’s word in your life?

Reading the Bible, mediating on the writings will enable you to know right choices from wrong. The Bible never changes. Man’s interpretations have at times twisted it from the original context but the Bible is resilient, it springs back to its true form for those who are earnestly seeking truth.

An important choice we make in life is who are we going to follow. Joshua came to a place before the people in Joshua 24:15 where he said choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your forefathers served beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD.

We can simplify this by saying we really have only two choices in serve when it is all boiled down. We serve God or we serve the world. The problem with serving the world is the options change on a constant basis. What is right today may be wrong tomorrow and visa versa. With God, the word never changes. God is not on a mission to make your miserable by changing the choices. Because He is God, He has set the standards for us to follow, outlined in the Bible not for the purpose of displeasure, but for pleasure. If we followed His word as it is written, we would find eternal benefits and divine protection. And what does the world have to offer in a money back guarantee? So the first thing you need to know before making choices in life, is this choice aligned with God’s Word. Another way to know if you are making a positive choice or a damaging choice is to answer this question…