Good Decisions Simplified

I made a decision over four decades ago that has taken the difficulty out of a lot of other decisions since. I decided to marry Linda. Since that decision, most of my other decisions in and around the house are pretty well taken care of. I only need to ask myself, “What would be better for our marriage?”

So even though my desk can get cluttered at work, I’m neat, clean, and organized at home.

Because Linda doesn’t care what my desk at work looks like, but she likes it neat and clean at home, so that’s how I like it. When I said, “I do,” that meant spending my life thinking about what she wants more than what I want. And

she does the same.

Not only has it made for a good marriage, it has simplified my decision-making process. I pre-decided most household things when I decided to become Linda’s husband.

It’s the same with my Christian life. I don’t fret over many decisions I see other Christians struggling with. I made most of those decisions when I was 17 and Jesus took charge of my life. So now I just ask, “What does God want?” and “What does the Bible say?”

I have no moral dilemmas. I know He doesn’t want me to lie, steal, gossip, or have sex outside of marriage. I made the decision to do what God wants when I said “Yes” to Jesus as Lord.

Not that I’m never tempted to do wrong. I’m tempted like everybody, and I fail sometimes. But I don’t have to fret, “Oh, what should I do?” I know what to do—whatever God has said or whatever pleases Him. Those decisions were made when I became a follower of Jesus many years ago.

I know we face other dilemmas that aren’t in Scripture. But it’s not those things that get us into trouble. If you take care of what God addressed in Scripture,

the other quandaries take care of themselves. If you do the right things in the primary things, you’ll be fine even if you make some mistakes in the secondary matters.

Wisdom in life starts by making choices in light of what is pleasing to the Lord.

Maybe you are having trouble with decisions because you were not serious about the most important ones. Get serious about what you said in your vows and your marriage will get easier. Ask yourself if Jesus is really Lord of your life...are you really living to please Him?

Once you get that taken care of, the right-wrong “what should I do?” questions get settled. When you stop justifying and excusing and just do what you know God wants, the rest of life makes sense.