Decision making: Seven steps for making good, Christian choices
WE are shaped by our decisions. Some have life-or-death consequences, while others are less important. How can Christians make better decisions? Steps for making good decisions Decisions come in all shapes and sizes. Every day we face decisions about what to eat, whether to exercise, how to use our time. Over the years these regular decisions generally become habits, and we don’t think much about them. If we have guided these small decisions well from the start, we don’t really have to worry about them.
When we haven’t made good choices, however, even these seemingly small decisions can blossom into serious bad habits like procrastination or an unhealthy lifestyle.
We also fairly regularly run into larger decisions that may have even bigger immediate and long-term consequences. What will we study? Where will we live? Who will we marry? What church will we go to?
Then there are the moral choices we are faced with. Will we cheat on our taxes? Will we turn down the drugs we are offered? Will we allow ourselves to be pulled in by the soft porn we stumble across?
Whatever type of decision we face, there are biblical principles that can help us make better decisions.
For example, when a Christian recognises a bad habit or faces a moral choice, he or she can apply God’s commands to always choose His way:
“I call Heaven and earth as witnesses today against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life, that both you and your descendants may live; that you may love the LORD your God, that you may obey His voice, and that you may cling to Him” (Deuteronomy 30:19-20).
The steps below can help with these decisions, and also with so many other decisions that don’t have an easy, rightor-wrong answer.
So, where does the Christian decision-making process start?
Direction from God. As Christians, our overall direction in life is determined by our commitment to God, and we must remember to ask Him to direct our lives. (Proverbs 3:5-6). How does God direct us? Through the wisdom He gives us in the Bible and through wise biblical counsel from His servants.
All of our decisions are to be in harmony with God’s laws and His plan (these major subjects are discussed in more detail in our free booklets God’s 10 Commandments and From Holidays to Holy Days: God’s Plan for You.
We should pray for God’s guidance and study the Bible to see what it says about the decision we are facing. Many helpful principles are presented in the book of Proverbs, for example; it’s a book designed to teach us prudence and understanding and the wisdom to make good decisions (Proverbs 1:1-4). It all starts with understanding how much greater God is than we are. This reverence for God is known as the fear of the LORD <https://lifehopeandtruth. com/god/who-is-god/fear-of-the-lord> (verse 7).
As we study the Bible, we should act on what we learn. We should discard any choices that we discover would compromise with God’s laws.
Sometimes it is a simple matter to know what decision to make —simply because only one choice would allow us to obey God. But most of our decisions are not that clear-cut. Sometimes there are several good choices, and sometimes none of the choices are morally wrong. The following steps can help us make wise decisions in these cases.
Define the problem or opportunity. When our problem seems fuzzy, it can be very difficult to come up with a solid solution. Sometimes it can be helpful to look at the problem from many angles in order to clearly define it.
What caused the problem to erupt at this time and in this way? Who is affected by it? If other people are involved in causing the problem, why? What do they get out of it?
If your decision is an opportunity, what exactly do you get by choosing it? What do you lose if you don’t choose it?
Dig out the relevant information. We have already