Hey friends, how are you today? How was your week? Really… I would like to know. How are you today? It’s only January 10th, prayerfully, we are not yet moving at the speed of light.  I love new days because new days offer the opportunity to do life better than the day before.   

Life and its curveballs; life and its crossroads; life and its decisions, there are days when I would like the God of the Universe to make decisions for me. Do you have days like these? Decisions that are so fine lined, but to make the wrong one could be disastrous.  How much is too much? How far is too far? What is the difference between ‘standing in the gap’ and ‘bearing your own burdens’? Do the two actions co-exist? Wouldn’t it marvelous if the Lord would just make the decisions for you? Then it would be so good to say, “well I didn’t do it, Lord, You did”.  Well… that didn’t really work for Adam, when he blamed the Lord for Eve, so I suppose it will not work for us today.  Decisions must be made and its benefits along with any consequence must also be granted. 

To do or not to do, that is the question.  To say or not to say, to go or not to go, to be or not to be, decisions like these have to made on a daily basis. Choices; choices; we are always given a choice.  Unfortunately, the Lord will not make that decision for us, but He will always bring us to that point when that choice must be made.  His way; or my way? What do we need to make these decisions when we arrive at these crossroads in life? What are some steps we should consider? 

First, what does the Bible say? The Bible does not give suggestions, nor does it leave space for negotiations. The do(s) and don’t(s) in the Bible are written in stone, there is no wriggle room. In order to know the limits placed around us as Christians, we must know the Word of God.  In order to know, we must read the Bible for ourselves. The Holy Spirit is very willing to provide wisdom and understanding.  Knowledge of the Word of God isn’t just for the well spoken or those with a high IQ, nor is it just for the pastors.  It’s for anyone with a desire to know, thankfully that includes you and me.   Yes, perhaps unfortunately for some, there is no excuse as Christians, for lack of knowledge of the Bible.  

How will this affect the lives of those around me? Because we don’t live in a vacuum, the decisions we make today will usually affect in some way, those closest to us.   It’s inevitable, someone besides me, will be affected.  Hopefully the decisions, I make will improve and benefit the lives of those around me.  Improvements and benefits are not necessarily materialistic nor financial, the best gift we can give to those around and closest to us, is that of knowing the Lord.  Think spiritual benefits when it’s decision time.   It’s easy to think of just the now, or what we can see (the present), but there is a future and more lasting repercussion of today’s decisions, especially when we have kids.  We are leaving a legacy; our kids will do better or worse than us. Remember we are building character.  

Will this draw me closer to the Lord? Every decision I make affects me spiritually. I am a Christian; this is my identity, and it is also the person I am becoming.  Whether it is buying that 100^th pair of shoes (which may seem insignificant) or sleeping with that guy that’s not my husband (which seems major), my decision today affects me spiritually, because it tells of my relationship with the Lord.  A maturing and nurturing relationship with the Lord fills that void that constantly cries out for more and more and more, because everything but God is temporary and fleeting.  Anything that, even temporarily, takes our attention away from the Lord, isn’t to our benefit and will eventually lead to sin.  Even the insignificant decisions today tell a story because actions are the reactions of my beliefs.  

What will others say about God? As a Christian I tell the world, “see me, see God”.  My decisions reflect the Lord; it speaks of and for Him.  The world looks to me to tell them about the God, I serve.  How I love, tells them how He loves, how I forgive, tells them how He forgives; my compassion and pity speaks of His own.  We are God’s open story book to the world; we demonstrate His characteristics. We are His ambassadors.  

Daily we have been called to make decisions that ultimately tell a story, unfortunately we will be brought to that crossroad and even doing nothing is doing something.  Sometimes our decisions may call for bravery and courage because to those closest to us, it may appear as if we are uncaring and mean.  But today’s decisions do not always offer instant benefits or consequences, most times these come later.  Todays’s decisions may fill a void but at whose and what expense? A friend once told me, every decision has repercussions, saying ‘yes’ to something is saying ‘no’ to something else.  It is much easier to allow selfishness to be the determining factor in our decision making but this way leads to our detriment.  Today’s decisions come at a cost; are we willing to pay the price?