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…
2. Would I want everyone to know about my choice?
Wrongly made choices, ill advised decisions are usually kept in secret. It is an issue of living a life and making decisions of integrity. It’s easy to cut corners, to shade the truth, to walk the tightrope of life, but when you do, it is not something you want everyone else to know about. A serial killer in Spokane was arrested and his wife and children were shocked by the facts of the arrest. Wrong choices are done in secret, you don’t come home and tell everyone at the dinner table, “By the way, last night I just killed my 20th woman.”
Proverbs 10:9 Honesty lives confident and carefree, but Shifty is sure to be exposed.
Sometimes it is a no brainer if it is a right choice or a wrong choice. Romans 14:14 If someone believes something is wrong, then he shouldn’t do it because for him it is wrong.
If you haven’t caught on, when you are in doubt about a life choice, don’t do it.
The next questions you need to ask your self on your life choice is this…
3. By making this choice, will it help me be a better person?
Probably most of the choices we have to make in life is not between good and evil, but between better or best. When I stand in front of the cereal aisle, overcome with choices of cereals, most of which are good, I need to make a choice of what is best for me, and what is best for me may not be best for you in that area. If you are suffering from diabetes, sugar coated mini-wheats, my favorite, would not be your best choice.
Don’t you want to make the best choices in your life? I do. I want to be a better person, and life choices can help me accomplish that goal in life, the right life choices. So why not do what is best. Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 10:23 "Everything is permissible"--but not everything is beneficial. "Everything is permissible"--but not everything is constructive. Before we had unwrapped the gifts under our Christmas tree, manufacturers were already at work making choices for the next gift giving season. As with everything, selection in making right choices is the name of the game. So we need to ask that big question, will I find improvement in my choices? Then we need to ask…
4. Will my choice become addicting?
Earlier in 1 Corinthians Paul said "Everything is permissible for me"--but not everything is beneficial. "Everything is permissible for me"--but I will not be mastered by anything. In the last question Paul said even though everything is permissible, not everything is constructive. Here he said everything is permissible but he will not allow himself to be mastered, to become addicted by some choices.
For those who are involved in Celebrate Recovery or should be, you know how a life choice has brought you into a recovery group because a choice you made some time back became addicting. Your life choice may have been smoking, drinking, sex, work, a hobby, money, sports, other people. These are just some choices which can dominate a person’s life. And it happens subtly. How do you know if a life choice has become dominating in your life? What is it that you think the most on because what your mind dwells the most on will inevitably become your god.
Let me give you the final question in making life choices…
5. Will my choice harm anyone else?
Our society is self seeking. The prime question self-seekers ask is “what’s in it for me?” As a result, we have a record number of people serving time in prisons around the nation. We have terrorists who think nothing of furthering their causes at the expense of others. For those of us who are trying to live our lives according to the life and example of Jesus Christ, we understand how important it is to think of others and the impact our choices might have on them. How will my decision affect my family, relatives, friends and total strangers. Paul said in Romans 14:12-13 So then, each of us will give an account of himself to God.
Therefore let us stop passing judgment on one another. Instead, make up your mind not to put any stumbling block or obstacle in your brother’s way.
It comes down to this, it is the small choices you make in life that will determine the depth of your character.
In 1958 a small Pennsylvania town opened its new city hall which housed their police and fire department as well as city government. Within two months, cracks began to appear in the bricks and sometime later, windows wouldn’t close all the way. Next it was doors and eventually the floor shifted leaving ugly gaps in the floor covering and the corners. Then the roof began to leak and within a few months the building had to be abandoned much to the embarrassment of the builder and the disgust of the taxpayers.
They brought in a firm to do an analysis and found the culprit to be a nearby mining concern which was slowly but effectively damaging the building with their blasts. It seems beneath the foundation there were small shifts and changes taking place in the soil which caused the whole foundation to crack. It was not something you could see or feel from the surface, but none the less, it was weakening the building. Ultimately it had to be demolished.
Not something uncommon to many peoples life choices. We need to ask ourselves the hard questions, bringing it down to a decision, What would Jesus do if he were facing the same choices we have?
As the worship team comes, what is it you are seeking to accomplish with your life, what is it God is seeking to accomplish through you, and are the decisions, the life choices you are making, bringing you closer to God’s plan and purpose or do your choices leave a gap? What are you going to do this week to close the gap and pursue the dream God has given you?
