What If?

What If?

How To Be Confident In Your Decisions

O2 Preview – 10.19.05

I. Introduction

Choices, whether they’re about how to stay smooth after doing a face plant or what outfit to wear tomorrow, are inevitable. Choices are unavoidable. Everyday you’re faced with decisions to make.

I mean, just think about it. You have to choose when to wake up, what clothes to wear, whether to brush your teeth or not, whether to use mouthwash, whether to take a shower or a bath, whether to comb your hair or wear a hat, the list goes on and on and you haven’t even gotten out of your house yet. And then you go to school, you have to choose what desk to sit in, who to talk to, whether to raise your hand because you know the answer or sit there and act stupid like everybody else, whether to tell the teacher your dog ate your homework or whether to tell the truth. And this is just first period. And what about lunch? You have to decide whether to eat the lunch your mom packed, or be a bully and eat Little Bobby’s, or maybe you didn’t bring your lunch, so you have to decide whether you want square pizza or hard hamburgers, and then you have to choose your sides: french fries, corn, lima beans or broccoli. And you’re only halfway done with school. The choices are endless.

Big choices and little choices. NO matter how big or small, each choice affects you in some way. You say, well, it doesn’t really matter that much what I choose to eat for lunch. I mean, that’s no big deal. Well it is if you’re lactose intolerant and you can’t have dairy products. And you choose the square pizza, which has cheese on it, a dairy product, now that’s gonna affect you, and chances are, it won’t be pretty. I mean, the dairy’s gonna want to come out as soon as possible, one way or another.

If you’ve ever found yourself wondering about your life and whether or not you’ve made the right choices, then you made the right choice tonight by coming here because I want to share with you some insight on making the right decision and not second-guessing your self to the point where all you think about are the decisions you’ve made in the past.

II. Gather All The Info

In order to make an informed decision, you have to be informed.

Luke 14:28 MSG “Is there anyone here who, planning to build a new house, doesn’t first sit down and figure the cost so you’ll know if you can complete it?”

This passage is about being informed. You wouldn’t decide to build a house without first finding out how much it’s going to cost. In the same way, you shouldn’t make a decision without finding out all the details about that decision.

Have you ever made a decision without being fully informed?

What about that second helping of spicy hot curry you ate without knowing about the effects it would have on your intestines?

What about that vacation that you took with your family without actually seeing the place where you’d be staying and you spent the entire week of your hard-earned vacation sleeping on a roll-away bed in the living room instead of on a Sealy Posturepedic covered in 400-thread count sheets?

What about that job you took without knowing about the corrupt owner and his unlawful mafia-like business techniques that landed you as a key witness in a million-dollar lawsuit and relocation due to the witness protection program?

Well, maybe those things haven’t happened to you, but something similar probably has. And you know as well as I do that it pays to be informed.

It also pays to do this next thing, which is best illustrated in this short video. Check it out.

III. Think Ahead

Every decision has a consequence. If you weigh the consequences BEFORE you decide, then you’ll be able to be more confident in your decision.

Making the right decision involves wisdom.

Proverbs 8:12 ESV “I, wisdom, dwell with prudence, and I find knowledge and discretion.”

Wisdom and prudence go hand in hand. One of the meanings for prudence is circumspection, which literally means to look around, being careful to consider all circumstances and possible consequences. So, in order to make the right decision and be confident in that decision, you have to look around and evaluate every option, and then play out that decision to consider the consequences. Every choice you make will come with a consequence, and that consequence may be good or it may be bad, all depending on the decision you make.

For instance, let’s talk briefly about a possible decision that will have different consequences based on your choice. Let’s say that one of your friends from school is throwing a party on a Friday night. After being invited, you decide to take the first step of being informed. So you ask questions like: who’s going to be there? Will there be alcohol or drugs? Will your parents be there? How long will it last? What will we be doing?