Decisions, Decisions, Decisions

Decisions, decisions, decisions - I have to pull the trigger on many things daily and accept the consequences. I don't want the mountains, I do not even desire the molehills for the size and types of problems they bring. I would much prefer living in peace, as a flat-lander with my decisions.

Knowledge on matters of interest and necessity is no issue for me. Wisdom, on the other hand, could be with me or not. This is my challenge going forward and my strong encouragement to you forever - make sure wisdom is always part of the decision-making process. A person can have all the facts about a situation, but if he/she does not use wisdom to discern how to use those facts, they remain non-applicable.

Interesting, the view some of us take of mountains and molehills. I am experiencing a seismic-sized-situation in my life and the roots stem back to a decision made thirty plus years ago. Some people would claim if the challenges that the mountains bring did not come then we could not "exercise" or develop our "climbing legs" for future mountains. Remember, mountains come from a build-up of dirt and seismic events over time and accepting it along the way.

Molehills are a different animal. They are plural - many. They cause a mess and create an underground, underlying network of tunnels or connections from one hole or issue to the other. The bad habits and ill-advised tolerances in our lives are examples of molehills with their network of connected tunnels that lead to other problems.

For the Christian, let us examine what the Scripture says on these topics of decision-making, mountains and molehills.

Jesus speaks about not worrying where your next meal will come from or about your attire if you trust in God as life-provider in Matthew 6:25-34.

In Matthew 17:14-21, the disciples tried to cure a boy of an epileptic demon. When the disciples question Jesus about it saying, "Why couldn't we drive it out?" Jesus replied, "Because you have so little faith." Then proceeded to tell them their faith was even smaller than a mustard seed. He said,

"Truly I tell you, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you."

Thank the Lord, God works with a scalable, developing faith. However, I hear the Lord saying - it would help tremendously if you at least had faith, the size of a mustard seed.

The key to all decisions and decision-making is what would Jesus do? This is not a reliance on a crutch phrase or trendy saying. This question places our focus, our attention squarely where it needs to be - on Christ, first. 

The Old Testament has dibs on this idea through the writer of Proverbs or wise sayings. Proverbs 16:3 states - 

"Commit to the Lord whatever you do and He will establish your plans." 

Then the one many believers know, Proverbs 3:5-6 says, 

"Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to Him and He will make your paths straight."

The answer Jesus gives to the worrying in Matthew 6:25-34 is to "seek first His kingdom and righteousness", then all the things we have been worrying about will be redeemed.

Seeking Him first must have as its foundation - faith. As mentioned before Jesus says that even if your faith is as small as a "mustard seed", we can move mountain issues. Imagine if we allowed God to grow our mustard-seed-faith, the kind of obstacles, challenges and decisions believers, with God, could overcome. The writer of Hebrews emphasizes this by saying,

"Without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to Him must believe that He exists and that He rewards those who earnestly seek Him." (Hebrews 11:6)

As the Journey song goes - "Don't Stop Believing".

As stated before, just because I have the knowledge, the key to better decision-making, doesn't mean I will seek out wisdom to help me implement it, but I should, especially for every major Decision, Decision, Decision.