Should I take this job?
Can I make this purchase?
Do I pursue this relationship?
How do I respond to this opportunity?
Our lives are full of major and minor decisions. A minute ago, you decided to click on a link that led you to this post. How do you make good decisions that honor God and serve those around you? How do you sift through all the opportunities you’re presented with and say yes to the ones you should and no to those you shouldn’t? Flip a coin? Call a friend? Poll the church? Point your finger at a random verse and hope it magically leads you to the right decision?
Three Words that Should Impact All Your Decisions
During my Bible reading last week, I read these words:
“You are not your own, for you were bought with a price.
So glorify God in your body”
(1 Corinthians 6:19-20).
I took out an index card and wrote these three words on it:
Not my own.
Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own. These words should impact your every decision, no matter how insignificant it might seem.
How do you allow these three words to impact your decisions?
Remember that your decision affects other people.
In reality, every decision flows from and leads to other decisions. We don’t decide anything in isolation, and everything we decide affects someone else—if not right at this moment, then certainly in the future. Don’t let this paralyze you from making any decisions, because even indecision is a decision. (Try saying that sentence five times fast.) Instead, ask God to help you to know how to glorify him and serve others with the decisions you make.
Recognize that God has a specific will for your life.
In times of wondering what I should do, I have taken great comfort in this thought: God wants me to obey him even more than I do. He’s not hiding his will from me, hoping I will find it like a needle in a haystack. Instead, he promises to lead those who are humbly seeking him. (Psalm 25:9)
And guess what? He doesn’t lead his children to the doldrums of unhappy service, but to life-giving, joy-filled service! Ask me how I know. (Psalm 4:7; Psalm 5:11; Psalm 16:11)
I am not my own. You are not your own.
We get to belong to the Creator who made us and the Savior who loved us so much that he gave his life for us. And there’s no place I’d rather be. You?