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Title: How to Make Better Decisions
Show of hands: How many of you want to know how to make better decisions? The first step is to have a grasp on who we really are, and what’s ticking inside us. Once we acknowledge that, we can begin to make better decisions.
Years ago I was talking with a co-teacher friend of mine at Ashland Christian School and he was explaining that every year, the first day of class, he has his students fill out a fun quiz so he can get to know more about the personalities of the students he’ll be teaching that year. One of the questions he most enjoys reading the answers to is this question:
If you could have any superpower what would it be and how would you use it? (You would be shocked at how many students, at a Christian school, say they would use the power of invisibility to rob banks.)
My coworker went on to explain that one of the growing trends he’s noticed is that most of the girls, young jr. high age, have the same answer. Anyone want to take a guess as to what superpower a 14 year old girl most wants?
The power to read minds.
Know why?
So they can know what other people think about them.
Today, John begins to talk about a similar power, how we have access to it, and what we should use it for. Let’s read.
(read passage/pray)
We know by the presence of the Spirit
In verse 24, the final verse of chapter three, John offers a reminder of what authenticates us as believers. His thought is simple: If we keep His commandments, we remain in His will. If we remain in His will, He remains in our lives.
Now, tell me what the potential theological pitfall is with that last sentence.
A: That if we don’t remain in His will, he will leave our lives.
This would be a problem, if what John was talking about was salvation. But that’s not what he’s talking about. What he’s talking about is the ability to discern God’s Spirit for wisdom, truth, and direction.
And this certainly is true. If you remain faithful to God, it’s easier to hear His voice, to understand what the Spirit is directing you towards. If you are not in his will, living in disobedience, good luck hearing God.
This is why repentance is such an important step in the process of discerning God’s will. If we don’t repent daily, if we don’t pick up our cross daily, if we don’t die daily to Him, we can’t expect Him to bless us with his knowledge.
Then John goes one step further and says, “And the way we know that He is with us, is through the active presence of the Holy Spirit in our lives.”
Compare this with Romans 8:9
“But you are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if the Spirit of God dwells in you.”
Paul is saying the same thing that John is: If you are right with God, if the Spirit is dwelling in you, then everything you do: your actions, your decisions, even your discernment, is not from your flawed flesh, but rather from the guiding of His perfect Spirit within you.
What this entire dialog has to do with is this: By what influence do we make decisions? Are we guided by our own flawed flesh, or are we guided by God’s Holy Spirit?
I, like most Americans, overeat. My family usually has dinner by 6PM, and I’m rarely in bed before 11PM. It is between the hours of 9 and 11 that I am most prone to eat something I shouldn’t. Do you know why? Do you know what my motivation is for eating?
It isn’t that I’m hungry. If I stop and ask myself, “Now Ben, are you grabbing those Pringles because you are truly hungry?” Nine times out of ten, the answer is, “No.”
Rather, I grab those Pringles because they taste good. And I like them. And I’m used to grabbing the Pringles that taste good. I like them. And even though my flesh doesn’t need them, my flesh wants them.
So often it is the same with us, and our decision making. We, even as Christians, struggle to ask ourselves some very basic questions, not about the decision itself, but rather about our motivations for wanting to make a decision. Many times, if we can discern our own motivations, and be honest with ourselves, the decision itself because much, much easier.
Let’s say we are facing a decision, it would do us well to start with a few simple questions.
- What do I think I want to do?
- What’s motivating me to go this direction?
- How does this honor God?
- Could I make this decision and confidently say, “In making this decision, I am abiding in God.”
I’m going to say one more things this morning before we close: If you are not sure that God’s Spirit dwells in you, do not leave this building this morning without talking to me personally. I will talk to you discretely, I will talk to you privately, but you need to talk to me.