Everyone makes decisions. Our days are full of them. We each make a thousand decisions a day. Small decisions. Big decisions. It could be insignificant like choosing a pair of socks. It could be risky like choosing to speed up at a yellow light. Or it could be serious like deciding to talk to a friend who is depressed. So how do you know which choice is the right one? Choosing the right socks is different from choosing to help a friend. There is no moral dilemma with socks. There is in weighing what is valuable. Is your friend valuable? Is it worth breaking the law to get through a light? How do you make choices that have the right value?
You could use intuition. But in Proverbs 14:12 it says, “There is a way that seems right to a man but its end is the way of death.” You could make an educated decision with the knowledge you have gained. Yet a wise person knows their knowledge is limited, and there is always more to learn for better decision-making. Proverbs 1:5 says, “Let the wise hear and increase in learning, and the one who understands obtain guidance.” Even the smartest person needs guidance and appreciates hindsight.
Your desires may compel you to go in a certain direction. But you can’t always trust them to make the right choice. The prophet Jeremiah reminds us, “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick who can understand it?” (Jeremiah 17:9). Our emotions and desires are affected greatly by the Fall. Yet many of us are controlled by them and end up making selfish choices. We all overvalue our self-worth.
To make decisions that have the right value we have to understand what is right. None of us in our own selves know what is right. Paul says in Romans 3:10, “None is righteous, no, not one.” If you make a decision based on what you think is right, then you will be wrong every time. Only God is right. He is full of right. He is the only one who is righteous. The psalmist says, “The LORD is righteous in all his ways and kind in all his works.” And he determines what is right and valuable.
So, the question for a Christian then becomes not ‘how do I make the right decision?’ but ‘How do I follow God who is right?’ To follow God the Christian must intimately know him and value what he says is right. Desiring God and treasuring his righteousness then gives the believer the right path to take every time. Your decisions become centered on God and honoring him and his righteousness. Valuing his name, his honor and glory become right in your eyes.
With God in focus, it becomes easy to slow down at a yellow light because the risk is too great to break the law and dishonor God, regardless of a pressing schedule. With God in mind, it becomes easy to help a friend because God is honored by sharing his love that he gave to you.
Making the right decision is making the most of every opportunity to put God first—to value him. You can’t do this on your own. You need help. Turn to the Righteous One and pray, “Incline my heart to you O God. Help me to desire and yearn for you and remove everything in me that resists you.”* This daily prayer can also be a quick prayer before you have to make the right choice.
*Modified from John Piper’s I.O.U.S. Prayer.