“But if serving the Lord seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.”
From the very beginning of life, we make decisions.
When we were babies, our “decisions” were very basic. Our entire world consisted of the things we could reach… until we got tired of sitting and decided to give crawling a try or made the ambitious decision to pull up on a table and start to walk.
As we grew older, we made decisions about what to wear, how hard to work in school, who our friends would be. From the very beginning, life is full of one decision after another, and each decision paves the way for another. Every decision has some sort of consequence or result.
In his book, When the Enemy Strikes, Charles Stanley describes something he calls “CMDs”—Critical Moments of Decision. He argues that when Satan attacks, you are the strongest at the first moments of the attack. If you fail to stand up in those critical moments, you are less likely to stand up in the future as Satan continues to hit you like a battering ram. If you don’t react in Godly fashion, which means to flee, or to ground yourself in scripture, or to cling to the power of Christ during that critical first moment of attack, you will be more willing to give in and succumb to temptation.
That’s important because each battle has the potential to become a critical junction for your life. Those moments dictate your progression or regression in your spiritual life.
Think about some Bible examples of critical moments of decisions:
Adam and Eve faced the first Critical Moment of Decision that changed mankind forever. When they chose to disobey God and eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, sin entered the world (Genesis 3).
When Joseph was seduced by Potipher’s wife, he ran away instead of giving in. That decision may have landed him in immediate trouble with Potipher’s wife, but it positioned him for future success (Geneses 39).
When King David stepped out onto his roof for some fresh air, and he saw Bathsheba bathing, and he made a Critical Moment of Decision to give in to temptation. That decision haunted his family for the rest of his life and beyond (2 Samuel 11).
When Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego refused to bow down and worship the king’s 90-foot-high idol, they changed the king’s heart (Daniel Chapter 3). Same with Daniel in Daniel 6.
Every day, you and I make decisions, too. Some are not critical: What we wear that day; what we eat for breakfast; what color to paint the bedroom. Others, however, can have long-lasting results that greatly affect your life. In the moment, you may not realize how meaningful they are, but later, you can see how your life hinged on that decision.
How many of us can pinpoint a single decision in the past that you would do anything if you could “undo?” What would you give if you could go back and stay away from that bar? Call an Uber instead of trying to drive? Resist that first flirtatious advance? Count to ten instead of saying those words? In retrospect, the right decision looks easy, but in the moment, you got swept away.
So how do we make good decisions when the time comes to make that Critical Moment of Decision? It all hinges on you making the most critical decision you will ever make in life—the decision to accept Jesus as the Lord and Savior of your life. Once you accept Jesus as your Lord and Savior, the Holy Spirit comes to live inside you. He is the counselor who will help guide your decisions.
You will still have to submit to Him, though. So stay close to Him. Feed your soul with His Words. Lay each weighty decision at His feet and discipline yourself to follow His lead.
And if you make a bad decision, as all humans sometimes do, that’s where God’s grace and mercy and forgiveness come in. Through Christ Jesus, He will meet you where you are, cleanse you from the inside out, and how you to walk in a different direction.
It is decision time—time to make a Critical Moment of Decision! Have I accepted Jesus as my Lord and Savior? Make a decision to follow Jesus. Have I sinned and fallen short by making bad decisions? Make a decision ask God for forgiveness. Have I neglected reading God’s word, the Bible? Make a decision to spend time with Him today.
Columbia researcher Sheena Iyengar has found that the average person makes about 70 decisions every day. That’s 25,500 decisions a year. Over 70 years, that’s 1,788,500 decisions. [The 20th-century philosopher] Albert Camus said, “Life is a sum of all your choices.” You put all of those 1,788,500 choices together, and that’s who you are. [1]
The Atlantic magazine asked a number of experts to weigh in on the following question: “What was the worst business decision ever made?” Listen to what some of the experts said:
“In the mid-1970s, a young engineer named Steve Sasson invented the world’s first digital camera. He secured a patent for it on behalf of his employer, then pitched his bosses on a new business model based on the invention. They passed. Today, digital cameras are ubiquitous—and Sasson’s company, Kodak, is emerging from bankruptcy.” (Daniel Pink).
“In 1983, Coca-Cola launched New Coke, a weapon in its losing market-share battle with Pepsi. But consumers boycotted, and just three months later, Coke brought back Coca-Cola Classic. By 1986, Coke was back on top, and some alleged it was all a marketing scheme!” (Melissa Lee)
“Apple’s firing of Steve Jobs in 1985 set the company back for a dozen years and drove it to near-bankruptcy. Apple only saved itself by rehiring him in 1997, at which point he went on to make Apple the most financially valuable—and influential—tech company in the world.” (Walt Mossberg). [2]
Write down your answers to the following questions in your journal:
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