How good are you at making decisions? Do you weigh the choices before you carefully? Do you consider the pros and cons of each option? Or do you simply make your choices based on feeling or on a whim? How has your decision-making worked out for you?
We all use different processes to make decisions. However, we can boil them down two general categories—emotional and logical. Some make decisions based more often on emotion or feeling. Those decisions are often a spur of the moment decision and is based largely on what our preferences are.
Others make decisions based on logic. They may acknowledge their preference, but they don’t allow it to be the overwhelming factor. Instead, they look at all the options, attempt to go through the positives and negatives of each option, and make the choice that logically should produce the best result.
The choices we make result in consequences, whether good or bad. When we rush into decisions, we may get what we desire in the short-term, but cause ourselves heartache down the road. I’m reminded of something a Warrant Officer told me nearly forty years ago when I was a young Marine. He said, “No decision, short of life and death, is so important you can’t first think about it.” True then. True today.
We remember the story of Mary and Martha. Martha is rushing around, making preparations, and gets upset that Mary is sitting at Jesus’ feet listening to Him speak. She wants Mary to help with the preparations. She thinks Mary is ignoring what needs to be done. Yet, Jesus tells Martha that Mary has chosen the better thing to do. This doesn’t mean we should never make preparations, but that we need to look at each choice carefully.
We may find there is a once in a lifetime opportunity that we should take advantage of by putting off other options. It may be that we need a reprieve from the day-to-day drudgery by going to a Christian concert rather than heading home to fix supper. Our spirits need the uplifting that comes from celebrating God in a high energy way. On the other hand, we may need to prepare for a class, which means we put off cleaning the house that day.
In the end, we all have a critical choice to make—to follow Jesus or turn our back on Him. As much as we often like to convince ourselves there is a lot of gray in that choice, there isn’t. Following Jesus doesn’t mean we won’t have other choices. It doesn’t mean we don’t live in this world. It does mean we put Him first in all we do.
I pray we all take time to evaluate our choices carefully. I pray we look at both the short-term and long-term consequences of our choice. I pray each one of us chooses Jesus. Make your choice carefully. Decide to follow Jesus. Choose the better option. Be like Mary.
Luke 10:41-42 “Martha, Martha,” the Lord answered, “you are worried and upset about many things, but few things are needed—or indeed only one. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.”
Marty Pressey 