Let’s get right to the heart of the message here; success in life (no matter how you measure it) is all about your attitude toward choices and decisions. Making the right ones isn’t always easy and the consequences are life changing, one way or the other. One recent insurance commercial says “Life comes at you fast!� Many of our life choices do come at us faster than we anticipate and many decisions are hard to make at all, let alone correctly, under the pressure of time. So having a healthy perspective on life and knowing how to identify choices and make decisions is certainly something we should learn and performing this skill well is, indeed, very, very, powerful.

For 33 years I have used another old insurance adage, “It’s better to have it and not need it, than to need it and not have it.� The phrase is often used to motivate people to see the value in purchasing life insurance by introducing the element of uncertainty in life. But, the “it� I’m referring to here is the personal character and assurance we receive when we consciously choose to seek the will of God and incorporate the truth of His word in our lives. Truly, the one thing that separates us from every other species on this planet is the power to choose.

The decisions we make and the actions we take determine the outcome of every endeavor. So, doesn’t it stand to reason that we should invest time searching for the source of the wisdom that enables us to discover our choices and to learn how to rightly choose and decide among them?
The following seeds of wisdom are intended to enhance the process of personal discovery and empower you in the decision making process.

1.Know God

To know God is to know the source of all that is. John 1:3 says, “Through Him all things were made; without Him nothing was made that has been made.� I think that includes you and me. Of course you have to decide to believe that. If this is true, then it would be logical for us to want to know Him personally so we can avoid, as much as possible, those things that would grieve His spirit and cause us to be separated from Him. Not only does God provide us with all of our earthly choices but He also provides us with the heavenly ones as well and He will not jam any of them down our throats. To know Yeshua (Jesus), for example is a decision based on all the choices from which you have to choose. Knowing God gives us a basis, a standard from which to compare right and wrong, and if we are making decisions in line with his spirit we will have fruit; Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Goodness, Kindness, Gentleness, and self-control. That’s good enough for me, how about you?

2.Know yourself
I’m sure you’ve seen or heard the quote, “To thine own self be true.� Well, so often we get ourselves into trouble because we didn’t know our own strengths or weaknesses. We misjudged how we would perform under certain circumstances or temptations, even with the best of intentions. Our pride often interferes with our true capabilities and our egos hide flaws in our character.

If we refuse to choose wisely with whom we identify and associate, the development of our character will continue down a rocky path. Yes, we can still accumulate material possessions and many times seem to have it all under control. But, when the stresses of life bear down on one who ultimately has no support, faulty character, and/or misguided counsel, his house must crumble. Again, this is a decision based on the choices God has provided in His abundance. It is entirely upon your shoulders and you will bear the full weight of that decision or the lack of it if you fail to make it. Consequences are a fact of life. Knowing who you are, what gifts you possess, and the purpose for which you are here is critical to successfully navigating this thing we call life.

3.Know others

Yeshua said that loving our neighbors as ourselves was second only to loving God the Father with all our heart, strength, mind and soul and that the greatest thing we could do was to lay down our lives for each other. It’s an understatement to say this is a fairly strong indication of how important it is for us to know others and it’s no secret how important relationships were to the Lord our God. So why then is it so hard for us to make the decision to treat each other with love and respect. What is it that we have placed atop the priorities that God gave us? I’m not just speaking of our closest, intimate relationships but also of our co-workers, neighbors and even our enemies. This is an easy thing to say, and with all honesty, so tough to do without knowing God and yourself.

4.Know and understand the value and impact of Time.
Time is defined here as the measured or measurable period during which an action, process, or condition exists or continues. We sometimes refer to this measured period of time as life! The operative word here though, is measurable. If something is measurable, it is finite. Time in our world is finite. (24 hours in a day, 30 days in a month 365 days a year, etc., etc.) It is also uncertain. We are not guaranteed a specific time period beyond each day. I could not possibly express the sadness and heartache we experience as a result of a miscalculation of the value and impact of time on everything we do or think. How often have you heard someone say, “if I had only taken the time…� or “I didn’t take the time to… Time is irrevocable. Once used, it is gone. The quality of our lives is tied to the wisdom we demonstrate in the use of our time. This too, is a decision only we can make.

Life, my friends, does come at us fast. I encourage you, therefore to invest wisely in knowing God, knowing yourself, knowing others, and knowing the value of the time you are given. I encourage you to open up to the abundant choices you have at your fingertips and the new choices directed toward you each day by an awesome and loving God. I also exhort you to learn how and when to make decisions. Dr. Tony Campolo once said that God’s view of time is “one eternal now.� If he was right, now is the time to decide how and for whom you will live your life. Eternity does not wait then, it is here!

I prayerfully ask you to consider two quotes:

“The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.� -Dr. Martin Luther King

“We who lived in concentration camps can remember the men who walked through the huts comforting others, giving away their last piece of bread. They may have been few in number, but they offer sufficient proof that everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms -- to choose one's attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one's own way.� - Viktor Frankl

Though Dr. King and Dr. Frankl lived different lives, in different parts of the world, they both had choices upon which they made decisions. Because they boldly and heroically chose to make those decisions before their time ran out, they left us with a template, as Yeshua did, with an imprint of the life we are to live so we can lead others back home. This is the real power of choice and it’s up to you!

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