Decision Making

Who do you listen to when you make a choice or a decision?  There are many voices that are trying to get your attention.  As a believer there is one voice that needs to be heard above all the other voices and that is the Lord’s voice.  As a believer we have no business listening to the negative voices that are all around us.

Jesus said this in John 10:24-30, “Then the Jews surrounded Him and said to Him, ‘How long do You keep us in doubt? If You are the Christ, tell us plainly.’

Jesus answered them, ‘I told you, and you do not believe. The works that I do in My Father’s name, they bear witness of Me. But you do not believe, because you are not of My sheep, as I said to you. My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand. My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of My Father’s hand. I and My Father are one.’”

Jesus is the Good Shepherd and we need to listen to Him and follow Him, we get in trouble when we allow ourselves to listen to all the negative voices around us.  Satan is still very busy trying to deceive us and he will use any means he can and anyone he can, even some that claim they are believers.

Remember when Jesus said this to Peter in Matthew 16:22-23, “Then Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him, saying, ‘Far be it from You, Lord; this shall not happen to You!’

But He turned and said to Peter, ‘Get behind Me, Satan! You are an offense to Me, for you are not mindful of the things of God, but the things of men.’”

Peter was Jesus’ friend who had earlier claimed that Jesus was the Son of God and now is trying to protect Him, but if Jesus didn’t suffer and die for the sins of mankind and rise again, we believers would still be condemned and lost, without any hope.  Peter’s intentions may have been good but they were not the will of God.  Temptations can come from those who love us and want to protect us, but many people learn from suffering.  I have heard that persecution seems to develop a stronger church.

Read what it says about Jesus in Hebrews 5:5-11, “So also Christ did not glorify Himself to become High Priest, but it was He who said to Him:

‘You are My Son,

Today I have begotten You.’

As He also says in another place:

‘You are a priest forever

According to the order of Melchizedek’;

who, in the days of His flesh, when He had offered up prayers and supplications, with vehement cries and tears to Him who was able to save Him from death, and was heard because of His godly fear, though He was a Son, yet He learned obedience by the things which He suffered. And having been perfected, He became the author of eternal salvation to all who obey Him, called by God as High Priest ‘according to the order of Melchizedek,’ of whom we have much to say, and hard to explain, since you have become dull of hearing.”

Jesus had a choice to make and He made the right one and that was to endure humiliation and suffering, doing the will of God His Father.  It is a good thing He wasn’t persuaded by Peter or any other man or the evil one.  Jesus listened to the voice of His Father and wanted to do His will and that is what He did, He had a decision to make just like we do.  We can either listen to the Lord’s voice or the voice of the world which has been influenced by the evil one because he is the prince of this world.  Jesus is the ultimate ruler defeating the evil one at the cross but the evil one has some authority and uses it to kill, steal and destroy.

Read what it says in Ephesians 2:1-5, “And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins, in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience, among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others.

But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved).” 

If you want to make the right decisions get into God’s Word so that you will know what it says and what the Lord is telling you to do.  But it takes more than that; it takes your willingness to obey when the Lord speaks to you from His Word.  If you are not studying the Word how will you know the truth from the lie that the world will try to convince you of?  It will be a great help if you study the Word but it is not a guarantee that you will make the right choice.  Be careful!  Adam and Eve knew what God had told them, but they still made the wrong choice and we know what happened because of it and it was all because they listened to the wrong voice.  Eve listened to the serpent and Adam listened to Eve, so be careful it can happen to anyone of us.  Something to think about!  May God bless you and yours and may you have a super day!!