Better Decisions, Fewer Regrets
Written by Ian Jannaway
A new year and a new series by Ps Caleb.
The question posed was how do we make decisions? Sometimes we want people to make decisions for us, don’t we?
Especially when the situation is difficult and we feel ill equipped, or disposed to act. We want a black or white answer.
But life is not like that, sometimes there are shades of grey too.
What questions do we ask ourselves when we make decisions? The decision we make must be linked to the questions we ask ourselves.
One of the most amazing things about Jesus was the sheer number and variety of people who came to ask him questions.
Israel was at the centre of three great cultural influences, Africa, Asia and the Roman empire, yet Christianity spread amongst each of these cultural influences.
Yet despite this, people have not changed very much, we still make the same mistakes. Despite millenia passing, we still have the same regrets. Most of us are not on truth quests but on confirmation quests. Most of us look to things and people that confirm our beliefs. We call these ‘echo chambers’ - a place where our belief systems are echoed back at us.
It is so much easier to look for people or opinions that match our own, we don’t like to be challenged by contradictory ideas. Decisions we make are usually made on an emotional basis, decisions are never made in an emotionally neutral environment. Think about falling in love and asking someone to marry you, it’s all about emotional responses.
Let’s dive into some scriptures together-
The last king of Israel was Zedekiah, he was the 20th king. B 618 BC, D 561 BC, Ruled from 597-586 BC.
He could have learned from all his predecessors couldn’t he? How about the wisdom of Solomon?
2 Chronicles 36:11-12
11 Zedekiah was twenty-one years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem eleven years. 12 He did evil in the eyes of the Lord his God and did not humble himself before Jeremiah the prophet, who spoke the word of the Lord.
In Jeremiah 17:9 we read this:
The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?
Permanent conditions require constant supervision, the heart must be guarded and supervised because with it we make emotional responses to situations we encounter in our lives. We sometimes prefer a happy now rather than a healthy later. The instant gratification scenario.
Luke 18 says this-
9 To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everyone else, Jesus told this parable:
Some might say misplaced confidence! Let’s read on together-
10 “Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector.11 The Pharisee stood by himself and prayed: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other people—robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector. 12 I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.’
Look at the level of religiosity displayed by the Pharisee, he is displaying his righteousness for others to see so that he gets approval from them-remember the echo chamber? Let’s read on-
13 “But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner.’14 “I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.”
The tax collector realised that his future lay in the grace of faith and not by the visible works of the flesh, he was making emotional decisions to be sure, but his eyes were faced heavenward in the hope and mercy of God.’
Where we can start, to make better decision:
1/Admit it! Admit that our hearts are deceitful, our emotions are in control, and we are dishonest with ourselves.
2/ Ask it! Asking for help, especially through prayer. What is our attitude to prayer, how can we improve it?
Jesus said this “you shall know the truth and it shall set you free”
He is the truth, knowing him will set you free. It will improve your decision making.