Little Decisions Create our Future Options

Our little decisions create our options for big decisions in the future.  It is all the little decisions that we make day-to-day that end up dictating our choices when making big decisions.  Decisions we make today craft the options available in the future.  Sometimes bad things happen to good people, and we are victims of other people’s decisions, but I think that is rare.  Mostly we create the environment for those circumstances through the decisions we make.

“If you believe in a God who controls the big things, you have to believe in a God who controls the little things.  It is we, of course, to whom things look ‘little’ or ‘big.'” – Elisabeth Elliot

Decisions

1 Corinthians 15:33 "Do not be misled: Bad company corrupts good character."

Choosing the wrong friends is the most straightforward example.  Spending time with people who are not good for us sets in motion a chain of events that can lead to significant problems.  The people we surround ourselves with greatly influence our options when choosing a life partner.  Moreover, neglecting important assignments at work can create a hostile atmosphere, resulting in job dissatisfaction and, potentially, unemployment.  We decide to work for a new employer because of higher pay, just to become entrenched in a dysfunctional environment.  This stress creates conflict in our personal life leading to more bad decisions.  The big one for some people is the decision to allow flirting, which leads to intimate conversations and temptation too hard to resist.  Repercussions are over the horizon someplace, to be dealt with in time.

Ephesians 4:26, “’In your anger do not sin; Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry,”

We fret over the big decisions because, well, they are big.  We discount the small decisions because they do not have immediate repercussions.  We don’t see the cause and effect because the effect has yet to happen.

Christian Journey

“You are the only Bible some unbelievers will ever read.” – John MacArthur

How does this affect our journey as Christians?  Everything you do as a Christian attracts people to Christ or repels them—every action.  Even our seemingly insignificant reactions to worldly events send ripples through time.  People we have never met observe how Christians behave and store those observations in their memories.

James 2:10 “For the person who keeps all of the laws except one is as guilty as a person who has broken all of God’s laws.”

Down the road, a Christian will try to share the Gospel with them to encounter pushback because of the previous actions of other Christians.  Some people today struggle to accept the reality of a loving God because of the unloving behavior exhibited by other Christians they encounter.  This position happens not just because of the big decisions splashed all over the news media headlines but the small, seemingly unnoticed decision made by everyday people living everyday lives.

“God will meet you where you are in order to take you where He wants you to go.”  – Tony Evans

1 Peter 2:12, "Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us."

Salvation

How does this perspective transform our understanding of salvation?  Some individuals believe their lives have strayed so far from God’s grace that they feel excluded from salvation.  Perhaps they find themselves in a difficult situation and must clean up their mess before deserving forgiveness.  It could be the first cigarette that led to the first joint and eventually addiction or the first drink taken behind a barn at 16—a small choice that set off a series of consequences.

Titus 3:5, "He saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy.  He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit."

We all have a past.  We make decisions that may seem inconsequential at the time but eventually reveal themselves as catalysts for significant choices.  However, we don’t always recognize the impact of these subtle decisions until later on.  How we live our lives daily has the most profound effect on the decision we will make tomorrow.

Good News

Proverbs 3:5-6, "Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight."

Here is the good news, there is a magic eraser.  There is a way to correct the impact of all those small meaningless bad decisions that created the life you are now living.  It is not a do-over because most of us, given the chance, would make the same mistakes or worse ones.  It is a clean slate.  Unfortunately, it does not protect us from the repercussions of some of our past decisions, but it does give us a way to live with them.  It gives us a path to a meaningful future.  We can have a life filled with hope and purpose.

Make a small decision today that will lead to the right decision in the future.  Speak to God about what troubles you most.  Ask for guidance before you react.  Making a small decision to seek Christ in all you do will set the stage for the bigger decision that eventually comes your way.

Proverbs 18:15, "The heart of the discerning acquires knowledge, for the ears of the wise seek it out."