Decisions

It starts with a decision. A single choice.  One night of skipping your devotional to watch television.  One brief moment of a slipped hand in a physical romance.  A few cents fudged on an expense report. One skipped date night in a marriage. It's no big deal.  It's just one time. One moment.  One decision.

But what happens when you've made that one decision- and there were no major consequences- so you make another decision, and then another.  You skip a week of devotionals, because you're really just too tired and busy.  You start being more open to wandering hands- it's not like you're having sex or anything.  No one seemed to care that a few cents were fudged- and you're underpaid anyway- they won't miss a few dollars.  Who really needs date nights when you're married? You've talked enough.  One decision has now become a habit.

Decisions have the power to own us. They can make us into the righteous men and women we were designed to be, or make us a miserable mess.  They can take us to reach our full potential, or they can take us down a road we never imagined we'd go down.  No one lays in bed as a child and thinks, "Someday, I'm not going to follow this God that I've learned about in Sunday School."  "Someday, I'm going to give myself away before I'm married, and be a teenaged, un-wed mother.  Or have lots of one night stands."  "One day, I'm going to embezzle money from my company."  "After I get married, I'm going to stop talking to my spouse, and then divorce them."

Take it to another extreme.  No child lays in bed at night thinking "Someday, I'm going to be in a gang."  "Someday, I'm going to be a serial killer."  "Someday, I'm going to strip and sell my body for cash."  "Someday, I'm going to be an alcoholic, and get hooked on drugs."

Decisions can be dangerous.  They can also bring blessings.  Few things in life are more powerful than a single decision.  It's why so many writers in scripture caution us to take every thought captive, and meditate on God's word, and hide His promises in our hearts, and invite God to search our hearts and examine us, to strive to be set apart as a new creation, not of this world.  Any time in my life I have ever experienced regret or remorse or conviction, I can trace back to a single decision. A single decision that sent me down a slippery slope to somewhere I'd have thought I'd never be.

We were created by a perfect and Holy God.  This idea that we have that holiness or righteousness are boring, or dull, or too demanding, or not worth it, or too extreme, or no fun... we're wrong.  Yes, bad decisions can be fun or feel good in the moment.  It's nice to enjoy an evening of television, and it feels really good to touch and be touched in a more intimate way, and it can be somewhat cathartic to get that extra twenty cents.  It can feel freeing to break free of a challenging marriage. It can feel liberating to take out your inner pain physically on another individual, or to dwell on your anger towards another individual.  Or to dance and have men/women look at you with lustful desires.  But there are consequences, painful consequences, that just do not outweigh the benefits.  The cost of a bad decision, is death.

We have been redeemed from death- We have no more fear in death because we have the opportunity to accept Christ's free gift of salvation.  We can invite the Holy Spirit to come inside of us and to guide us, to advise and counsel us as we make decisions.  We have the ability to pursue righteous and holy living, and to enjoy true freedom and abundant life.  Why do we not take advantage of this incredible blessing?

My personal conviction lately, and my challenge to you- think about the decisions you're making.  Does each individual decision bring you closer or pull you farther from righteous living?  Is righteous living even something you want anymore?  Take every thought captive, and make every decision with eternity in mind.