WHY THIS CHOICE?
Why do you make certain choices? In the previous posts, it was determined that choices are influenced by family and friends or circumstances. And, the key point was your mindset. Good mindset equals good choices. Negative mindsets equate negative choices. Change the way you think, your words and behaviors will change. To keep it simple, think of it like this. You have an old house, if you renovate the house, the outer and inner appearance will change, and the market value changes.
What are good choices? Choices that keep you out of trouble, that can mean lawfully, financially or physically or any other practicality. Otherwise, choices are made to produce a good return. The question to be posed who determines what choices are good or bad.
Let’s examine some choices. A criminal that strategically plans to rob a bank and successfully accomplishes the task, in their eyes, their choice was a good one, it reaped them a positive return, even though it’s with another person’s money and it’s illegal.
A man cheats on his wife, 3 times, yet another man cheats on his wife, 10 times. What man is the better man? Most people will say neither. But, the 3-time cheater may think he is better because he committed adultery less the other cheater. Again, his choice was better to stop at 3 rather than to go on to 10.
A friend constantly lends money to a friend that can never keep a job, spends money frivolously and never pays any bills. The lender may think that this is a good choice because they are helping a friend. Is this a good choice?
Who should dictate what are good and bad choices, in your life? Of course, you are responsible for decision making, in your life, And, you must take accountability if it was a good or bad decision. However, who can truly define good? Your neighbor? Society? The Government?
Wouldn’t you want to go to the ultimate source, creator or the author of what is good and bad?
God is the Holy Power to define good. The Lord is the creator of all things. He is the Ultimate Guide in decision making.
I will present you with the 12 Commandments to help in correct decision making.
Acknowledge God. He created good and evil, for His purpose. He is the Ultimate One to know the difference.
I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the Lord do all these things. Isaiah 45:7 King James Version (KJV).
Realize God is not a man to do the things of a man like a lie. What He says He will do.
God is not a man, that he should lie; neither the son of man, that he should repent: hath he said, and shall he not do it? or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good? Numbers 23:19 King James Version (KJV)
Remember man is fallible. When we lean on family, friends and others for our choices, sometimes we fail, because we are putting trust in the wrong person and maybe for the wrong reasons.
It is better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in man. Psalm 118:8 King James Version (KJV).
Understand the real plan. When you think you or man has a better plan, we stop leaning on God and that results in afflictions.
Thus saith the Lord; Cursed be the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm, and whose heart departeth from the Lord. Jeremiah 17:5 King James Version (KJV).
Think about the true judgment. Man judges you for how you look and how you dress. God does not do that. He judges the heart.
But the Lord said unto Samuel, Look not on his countenance, or on the height of his stature; because I have refused him: for the Lord seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the Lord looketh on the heart. 1 Samuel 16:7 King James (KJV).
Recognize God knows your future. He has a plan for your life.
For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end. Jeremiah 29:11 King James Version (KJV).
Grasp the reality of God. Who can you truly say they really know you? Half the time we do not know ourselves. But, God knows you.
Then hear thou in heaven thy dwelling place, and forgive, and do, and give to every man according to his ways, whose heart thou knowest; (for thou, even thou only, knowest the hearts of all the children of men; 1 Kings 8:39 King James Version (KJV)
Renew your mind with God and not the world. When you renovate your mind to think like God thinks, your choices will with change for the better.
And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God. Romans 12:2 King James Version (KJV).
Choose wisely with the correct instructor. God will teach you to choose wisely.
Who is the man that fears the Lord? Him shall He teach in the way He chooses. Psalm 25:12 New King James Version (NKJV).
Be open to learning. God will teach you discernment. Discernment is the ability to comprehend what is not easily understood. The ability to know right from wrong.
Give therefore thy servant an understanding heart to judge thy people, that I may discern between good and bad: for who is able to judge this thy so great a people? 1 Kings 3:9 King James Version (KJV)
Allow God to be the leader. God will lead you in the correct decisions, only if you trust Him.
Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. 6 In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths. Proverbs 3:5-6 King James Version (KJV)
Comprehend the true teacher. God’s anointing (His covering, His Spirit) will teach you. This will stop you from turning to man for answers.
But the anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you, and ye need not that any man teach you: but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in him. 1 John 2:27 King James Version (KJV)
Make the best choice you can ever make. Get God.