One of the many comforts of following Christ is knowing that decision making is not entirely dependent upon our limited amount of knowledge. If our life’s big - and even little - decisions were totally dependent upon our little understanding of the present and zero knowledge of the future then we would not be in a good place!
The perk of following Christ is that he knows where he wants to take us and it is always in our best interest to follow him. So, I think it would be helpful to tackle one of the BIG questions;
“How do I know what God wants me to do and where he wants me to go?”
Sometimes it is easy to know what God wants and sometimes it can be a challenge. Some easy ones, for example, are: “Should I find a group of believers to worship with or not? Should I be faithful or not?” For some things, God’s will can easily be found in scripture. The tougher questions to answer can be: “Should I take this job or that job? Should I join this church or that church? Is she the one I’m to marry?”
In decision making, many suffer from what I call paralysis of analysis. They are waiting to get a direct e-mail from God with an exact itinerary on what they are supposed to do. The e-mail never comes.
Their entire life has been a holding pattern waiting for orders from the control tower as to where they are to land.
Waiting upon the Lord is important, but waiting does not always mean sitting.
Sometimes God reveals his will after we take a step. After the first step He may open a door or close a door, but we have to take the first step.
I think a great example of this is found in a particular instance in Paul’s missionary journey.
Acts 16:6-10 - 6 Next Paul and Silas traveled through the area of Phrygia and Galatia, because the Holy Spirit had prevented them from preaching the word in the province of Asia at that time. 7 Then coming to the borders of Mysia, they headed north for the province of Bithynia, but again the Spirit of Jesus did not allow them to go there.
8 So instead, they went on through Mysia to the seaport of Troas. 9 That night Paul had a vision: A man from Macedonia in northern Greece was standing there, pleading with him, “Come over to Macedonia and help us!” 10 So we decided to leave for Macedonia at once, having concluded that God was calling us to preach the Good News there.
Even though Paul and Silas did not know God’s detailed itinerary, they still moved in a forward direction. Verse six says they traveled; verse seven says they headed; verse eight says they went; andfinally, verse 10 says they left.
Each of these actions was rewarded with an answer from God. The answer was either no or yes.
At the time of this writing, our church, Cross Brand Cowboy Church, is in the process of moving forward.
For those familiar with our church, you may know that the church building is no longer in its old location. The church building and arena are literally gone! But the people who are the church have not disappeared. Since the physical location is not the church but the people are, Cross Brand still very much exists.
Because we do not have a building of our own to meet in we are now seeking God’s will as to “Where should we go? Where is the place you have already prepared for us to meet?”
God immediately began opening doors. In fact, we now have at least four good places from which to choose. It seems that when our church makes a step in a forward direction, God has revealed his will with either a no or a yes. Even as I sat down to type this article I received a phone call from one of our four options with some news that seemed to be confirmation of God saying yes.
We did make some moves in a forward motion where God said no. And that’s OK.
Maybe you took a job in another state and discovered later that it was the “wrong decision.” But was it a waste?
No. God always uses detours and dead ends to teach us something valuable. In fact, it may be that we need the detours and the dead ends to prepare us for the place he wants to bring us to. It could be that the dead end will help you to better know God’s direction in the future!
I am a firm believer that if your motives are to seek the kingdom of God in all things and you are sensitive to his leading, then no matter what decision you make, He will ultimately lead you to just the right place. This is why I take comfort in following Christ.
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Editor’s note: Tim Wallace is pastor of Cross Brand Church. To contact him, e-mail [email protected].
Church, Pages 2 on 05/01/2013