Decision Making

I have listened to and participated many times in discussions among believers about one of the things we seem to like to bat around the most - knowing God’s will for my life. Typical discussions often focus on what we perceive to be the big issues, like what type of work I should be in or who I should marry. But it certainly isn’t limited to those kinds of things. It involves the every day things too. Most of us don’t pray about what socks we are going to wear but we wonder about conversations to have or not have, or what our priorities should be in any given week as we seek to schedule our time. And it seems there is a significant amount of angst in our Christian faith. It seems we have this expectation that God is going to lead us but then we wonder why He isn’t giving us clear personal direction?!

This is an important issue when you think about it. How can we obey God if He won’t tell us what He wants us to do? Here is what I think. Most of the time we tend to want God to make our decisions for us. Think about it. If you had some kind of ‘clear sign’ from God, I mean something that is just over the top totally conclusive, each time you faced a choice in your life, then you really wouldn’t have to make any decisions at all. And wow, would that be easy! There would be no need to really study the Scriptures. There would be no need to agonize over anything in prayer. And you wouldn’t have to really think either. Those things are all really hard work, but we could just forgo all of them because God will have made the decisions already for us and we would only need to sit back, relax and follow the signs. Not only that but you wouldn’t really need a whole lot of faith to believe that God was guiding you because it would all be so clear; so obvious, so visible.

Don’t get me wrong. There are times when God gives us some really visible signs. But clearly, they are the exception to the rule. Most of the time we must walk by faith alone and not by sight. To trust God is to move forward when we can’t see, believing that He will guide our steps.

How do you make decisions? Do you find yourself often stalled or on hold, second guessing yourself or even questioning God? Do you find yourself waiting for some kind of clear sign from God telling you which way to go? That’s not really faith. That is pseudo-faith, not real biblical faith. Study the Scriptures hard, pray hard and get good advice from people you respect for their godly wisdom. Ask the Lord to search the motives of your heart regularly, devote yourself fully to Him, then move forward in faith trusting Him to guide you.

“God, You know I want to do Your will. You know my heart. I want to seek Your kingdom first. I commit myself to make the best decision I can in each situation I find myself in based on all that You have taught me from my life experience examined through the lens of Your Scripture discerned in the community of godly counsel. I know because of my faith in You that You live in me and are able to guide me by Your Spirit. I submit myself to Your will and ascribe to You the prerogative that is Yours to work in my situation in any way Your sovereign will is inclined. As I launch out in faith each day determined to walk in your ways, I believe You will steer me right where You want me to go to do the very things You want me to do as I surrender my will to Yours. Thank You for leading me.”

“In his heart a man plans his course, but the LORD determines his steps.” Proverbs 16:9

Lostness

One of my all time favourite Bible passages is the parable of the lost sheep where the Good Shepherd leaves the ninety and nine safe in the fold and goes out in search of the one who is lost. One of my all time favourite pictures is the artist’s conception of the parable with the strong and caring shepherd reaching down, staff in hand, to rescue that single lost lamb from the rocky crag and certain death. That picture has never left my mind or heart since seeing it for the first time as a young child. I have a copy of it in my study. I just love the fact that God pursues us, pursues me! Thank God for His amazing grace that He would come after me and find me in all of my lostness and rescue me and take me home.

So when I read this passage from Matthew a while back it really struck me.

10 Jesus called the crowd to him and said, “Listen and understand. 11 What goes into a man’s mouth does not make him ‘unclean,’ but what comes out of his mouth, that is what makes him ‘unclean.’”
12 Then the disciples came to him and asked, “Do you know that the Pharisees were offended when they heard this?”
13 He replied, “Every plant that my heavenly Father has not planted will be pulled up by the roots. 14 Leave them; they are blind guides. If a blind man leads a blind man, both will fall into a pit.”
Matt 15:10-14

The two words that stood when I read this recently are the first two words of verse 14 – ‘Leave them’. In other words, don’t go after them. It seems to stand in stark contradiction to the grace of God that I know, and cherish, in my life. So how does this work?

In the context of the passage these religious leaders were offended by Christ’s teaching. We know from many other passages similar to this one (as the gospels give us quite a good look at the Pharisees’ mind set) that the reason they were offended was because they resented any implication that they were not just fine the way they were, ‘thank you very much’. They were, in a word – ‘self-righteous’. They thought they were clean. As far as they were concerned they were keeping the law and thus deserving of eternal life. They would not for one second concede to being lost. And Jesus comes along and tries to shake their tree but they continued to cling to the illusion of their own moral goodness.

So what are we to take from this? I guess we could point out the difference between being lost and being lost while absolutely refusing to admit you are lost, even when the ‘Light of the World’ shows up to show you just how lost you are! (Give John 3:17-21 a read on that note.)

And then the Pharisees compounded their condemnation even further by presenting themselves as spiritual guides for everyone else. And so, Jesus’ instruction to His disciples? - ‘Leave them’!

To any ‘black sheep’ out there, be assured, Jesus is searching for you. He really is. But be thankful you’re not a goat. The Lord knows those who are His.

Snakes & Ladders

I was thinking recently about how the things in my life that I battle with fall into two main categories. There are the things that come with absolute ease that I find difficult to resist. They require no effort at all. The only hard thing about them is to not do them or to stop doing them. Even good things are no longer good when taken to excess… Your fajitas come to mind Derek!

Then there are all the things in my life that require real effort on my part but that I should be doing. Both are matters of self-discipline, on the one hand resistance is called for, and on the other, exertion.

The old people had a saying about things going wrong. They would say that it’s going down hill. This is what got me thinking about all of this. The things that happen easy without any effort on my part are the down hill things. The things that require effort on my part are of course the uphill things.

My friend Jim did say one time that life is like a game of snakes and ladders. They call it chutes and ladders now but when I was a kid it was always snakes and ladders and I did some checking. Interestingly enough the game of snakes and ladders originated in ancient India where it was called, among other things, paramapada sopaanam which translates ‘the ladder to salvation’. Could the snake be a reference to Satan? Either way, I think Jim is right. Life is like snakes and ladders. There are two main categories of disciplines that I need to work on if I am going to do well. Both are critical. I must climb the ladders and avoid the snakes. I must work hard and push myself to do good things that don’t come easy. And I must resist the temptation to let good things that do come easy cause me to start sliding or bad behaviours that are always destructive take me down.

Maybe that’s where the expression ‘O chute!’ comes from? Or maybe not…

Merging

I was merging into 100 k traffic yesterday. I was in the process of getting my speed up to 100 k, which of course is only proper and safe for merging into 100 k traffic (that’s why it’s called ‘merging’), when I began to realize that the person in front of me who was almost ready to merge was doing about 50 k. I considered pulling out early but as I looked back over my shoulder there was a car driving in the inside lane of the two lane highway with the outside lane completely free. So, I applied my breaks and slowed back down watching the two cars ahead of me jostle for a place on the inside lane. Then I pulled onto the highway behind the two of them, going about 50 kilometers an hour, and muttering some comments about the amazing incompetence all around me.

It only lasted for a quick moment before I checked myself. I know Lord. My impatience with others around me is unacceptable. And more than that, it’s a sign of my lack of faith in You. I have thought and written about this many times, perhaps more than any other thing. If I am 10 seconds back on the highway from where I might otherwise be, if it weren’t for someone else who is struggling to learn how to operate a motor vehicle, then maybe God has me right where He wants me. And maybe He will use that somehow to make all the difference in my life one way or another. Or, maybe He will even use it to preserve my life.

Lord, please help me to have the right attitude about the circumstances of my life and especially for the people around me. I want for my faith to be in You at all times so that I can reflect the peace and the security that comes from knowing that You are ultimately in control and that I am in Your will.

Leftovers

I love leftovers. I love the convenience of them. But more than that, a lot of dishes (stew being just one of them) actually do taste better the second or third time around. There is a story in the Bible about leftovers.

“When Jesus looked up and saw a great crowd coming toward him, he said to Philip, ‘Where shall we buy bread for these people to eat?’ He asked this only to test him, for he already had in mind what he was going to do. Philip answered him, ‘It would take almost a year's wages to buy enough bread for each one to have a bite!’ Another of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, spoke up, ‘Here is a boy with five small barley loaves and two small fish, but how far will they go among so many?’ Jesus said, ‘Have the people sit down.’ There was plenty of grass in that place, and they sat down (about five thousand men were there). Jesus then took the loaves, gave thanks, and distributed to those who were seated as much as they wanted. He did the same with the fish. When they had all had enough to eat, he said to his disciples, ‘Gather the pieces that are left over. Let nothing be wasted.’ So they gathered them and filled twelve baskets with the pieces of the five barley loaves left over by those who had eaten. After the people saw the sign Jesus performed, they began to say, ‘Surely this is the Prophet who is to come into the world.’ ” John 6:5-15

There are some really big truths apparent in this account but I want to point you to one of the less noticeable details. In fact, I only really noticed it a short while ago while reading this passage for the umpteenth time. After feeding five thousand men (plus women and children) with five loaves of bread, Jesus instructed His disciples to “gather the pieces that were left over”, and the detail I’m referring to consists in those four little words that follow – “Let nothing be wasted”.

Now, doesn’t it seem more than a little odd that Jesus, having the power to miraculously produce, instantaneously, infinite amounts of food (or anything else we can presume), would care about the leftovers? I mean, why? Really?

The old people had a saying: waste not, want not. I got to thinking about the people I know who might be considered wealthy according to the standards of this present western context. And as I thought about it, I realized that most of them waste very little compared to some of the poorer people I know. What’s with that? Waste not, want not, is not just some catch phrase. It is actually a practical principle for gaining wealth. Those who waste will not prosper. Those of us who are wasteful in our habits just don’t get this. Why? Because we think the answer to our finance/resource problems lies in what we don’t have. We think … “If I just had more, my problems would be solved.” We don’t get it that our focus needs to be on what we do have, how we feel about it and what we do with it. It’s part of our stewardship of the resources God gives to us. Our attitude towards what we have, as a gift from God for us to steward (manage diligently for Him), is indicative of our life and work ethic. This is a core issue. For example, how can we really be thankful for what we have if our focus is on what we don’t have? Wastefulness is a clear indication of a lack of gratitude. Think about that. What we do with what we have is a clear reflection of our attitude towards God.

I see this account from John 6 as being similar in nature to the account of Jesus’ baptism recorded in Matthew 3. There, when Jesus went to John the Baptist to be baptized by him, John protested saying, “I need to be baptized by You, and do you come to me?” But Jesus responded to John, “Let it be so now; it is proper for us to do this to fulfill all righteousness.” Did Jesus really need to be baptized, especially when John’s baptism was known as the baptism of repentance? I think not. And when Jesus told the disciples to make sure that they collected all the leftovers, He wasn’t worried about what they might have to eat the next day. He was teaching. And I know that there are some bigger lessons to be learned from this passage. I know for sure He wanted the twelve to know that He was more than capable of meeting their needs as they moved out to serve others. But I think there was another lesson there as well in the details. We really need to be paying attention to the details and make sure we are learning the lessons.