Posts Tagged ‘decision’

It Begins With a Decision

March 9, 2016

My wife introduced me to the Baptist culture. Every good Baptist sermon in the day ended with a call to decision. Maybe they sang all 155 verses of “Just As I Am” (OK, I exaggerate) until someone comes forward who has made a decision.

Even today I am around many people who talk about making a decision “to be saved.” And they talk about other people–“he’s been saved”; “I don’t think she’s saved”; “we need to get them to be  saved.”

Rebel that I am, I’d frequently ask, “Then what?”

I had to ask, because so many people seem to think that the “salvation decision”  is all you need. Been saved, done that, got the T-shirt.

But nothing changes in your life.

There are people with addictive personalities who simple switch addictions. That’s good on one plane, but perhaps not spiritually healthy. Or they were obnoxious before, now obnoxious with a different message. Or weak in relationships before, and now still weak in relationships. No joy, still not much joy.

One of my favorite old songs goes, “I have decided to follow Jesus.”

What’s the decision? To become a follower. A student of the teacher. A person who models my behaviour on one person–Jesus.

Therefore the importance of spiritual discipline or otherwise called spiritual practices.

They also start with a decision. “Today, I will spend 15 minutes early in the morning reading from the Bible.”

Repeat that a few times, and it becomes a habit. Best of all, it is a habit intentionally cultivated designed to bring me closer to God.

Most of the early believers were attracted to the movement not because of dynamic preaching (remember to story of the young man who went to sleep while Paul was preaching, fell from an upper window, died, and had to be brought back to life by Paul, who continued to preach?). They were attracted by what the new believers had and by how they lived.

They organized their lives differently around prayer, study, service. They had a deep happiness and optimism. They were a community.

And they grew more followers. And it began with a decision.

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What If I Change My Mind

June 4, 2015

But, what if I change my mind?

The flight attendent last night asked the mandatory question of those in the exit row of the airplane. The guy beside me said yes, as we all did because we wanted the extra leg room. Then he said, “But what if I change my mind?”

He was joking, but I found the question appealing.

Now, I am not going to touch the Baptist’s “once saved always saved” doctrine.

But what if we changed our mind?

“OK, God, you win.” Followed by, “What you are asking me to do is too tough. What if I change my mind?”

Or, change the other way. Moses thought he’d defend his fellow Hebrews, then changed his mind and fled to the wilderness. Then God changed his mind–with much reluctance on Moses’ part–but now Moses grew into the role.

Or Jeremiah. God asked him to speak, much like he asked Moses to speak. Jeremiah protested. God put the pressure on. Jeremiah changed his mind.

Elijah? God put the pressure on, and he changed his mind.

Paul the Apostle? Same deal. I believe this, oops, excuse me, I changed my mind, now I believe this.

I bet there is a book lurking in this phrase.

Where do we need to change our minds today?

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Choose If You Can

May 5, 2015

How much free will do you have over your choices?

When you go to the store, are you buying because you need or want something–or are you buying because of the message of an enticing advertisement that made the product so appealing?

At a deeper level, are you making choices based on emotional reaction or with a clear head?

My friend Jim Pinto who wrote a column on the business of automation for me for 10 years has taken to writing on philosophical issues in his retirement. He published a blog on April 27 pondering all the aspects of choice.

Scientists who study the brain debate the amount of free will we actually have. Some think we have none. A philosophy taught in English departments for many years is that everything is culturally derived. Therefore you cannot make general statements. Oops, pardon me English scholars, but I  believe you made a general statement.

The philosophy du jour when I was an undergrad was existentialism. These people looked at life and observed that there would be a few times, maybe only one, where a person will make a decision–the existential decision–that is a determining factor in the rest of their life.

This is not the decision about Irish breakfast tea or jasmine infused green tea. This is the decision that the apostle John talked about (1 John) where he said we must choose to follow the light or to follow darkness.

We have so many choices to make daily–that’s why some people like Steve Jobs wear the same type of clothing every day, it reduces a decision–that we can be lost in decision. It is the paradox of too many choices.

But, there are a few choices that we make daily that determine what sort of life we will lead. It pays great dividends in the future to ponder at the end of every day whether we made the right decisions in important  circumstances. 

We have so many options, so many opinions, so many influencers, that making the right choice requires intentional effort.

Go and do the hard work.

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