Own it!

So this morning when I went to work I had the opportunity to listen to a Breakout sermon from Passion2010 that my sister suggested could be good for me. It was by Ben Stuart, and after all the funny introductions he proclaimed his topic:

Decision Making.

Ha! It was incredible, so timely and true... and it was yet another wake-up call to me that I was becoming self-absorbed and prideful even in this "should I travel with Life Action" decision-drama that had started out so well. Here are his main points; I really feel that everyone can benefit from this refocusing of our thoughts:

• Before you make your decision, make sure you're on the right trajectory: Seeking God and His glory above all. One of the verses he cited was Passion's big verse, Isaiah 26:8, which says, "Yes, Lord, walking in the way of Your truth we wait eagerly for You". Ask yourself: why do I want to do ______? Can you honestly say that the reason is God's Name going out?

• When you ask, "What's God's will for me?", realize there are two parts to God's will: the revealed and the providential. The revealed things are those things God has clearly stated in the Bible: no murder, no stealing, love your neighbor as yourself, blessed are the humble, God loves a cheerful giver, etc. The providential things are the things God reveals through people, circumstances, etc. while you're living life with Him.
  

  -----> You will not know the providential things till you get to them... in the meanwhile, excel at the revealed things!

• OWN the decision
  

  -----> Pray about it, first thing, and often. Not just sitting and waiting for a "voice"... praying earnestly, with no anxiety--"Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, with prayer and petition, with thanksgiving present your requests to God, and the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus" (Phil 4:6-7). So often when a really BIG decision drops on us, we tend to freak out. I know I sure do! Then we do things in haste and spend all our time fretting, when all we need to do is step back, chill, pray, and then come at it with a clear trust in God as we wait for Him to guide our next step. Be careful with your use of "God told me...", because as you buck up and own the fact that you have a decision to make you can't go around ascribing every movement of your heart to God's Spirit. You have to trust that as you seek Him, you will have to make a choice--but He will guide it. God isn't going to leave you hangin'!
  

  -----> I confess that this is where I found myself in all this. I realized that, in my pride, I was hiding the true fact that I didn't want to own the decision. I was anxious, and I really just wanted somebody else to make the choice for me, someone else to tell me what to do. I was freaking out in the moment and not taking a breather. It was making me self-absorbed, suspicious of others, and even more confused. Slap! Slap! Time to grow up out of that childish behavior! :-)

• Seek wise counsel. You're not an island, you can't do it on your own... as I'm even finding myself, Proverbs is loaded with verses about seeking counsel. Also, realize that the wisest counsel may not (and is probably not) tied up in your buddies... you need to seek out older, wiser folks who have been there for you. Ben Stuart himself has a counsel of wise men that he calls up whenever he has a big decision or question.

• Study the Word on it... remember, your big priority while you're seeking God's Providential Will is to excel in His Provided Will. If you're not reading the Word, you won't know what things are revealed and what things aren't! Der!

• THINK critically!!!! Don't make a decision about changing your major if it's something you're not good at and you don't think you'd enjoy it!!! Don't know what you're good at? Get involved in a lot of stuff at church. The things you're good at will rise to the top and people will comment about it... and the things you're not good at, well, you and others will figure those out too :)

• Finally, last step, as you're getting ready to decide, go with your heart. Do you desire this at all? Don't think that just because you want something, you're not supposed to do it. He spoke of a student who said, "Well, I'd love to and everybody is telling me I'm good at it, I don't think I'm supposed to do it because what if I get prideful?" HA! He responded, "Come on! You're supposed to kill the pride, not the job!"

• So it has come down to decision time. You've made sure your trajectory is aimed at God, you're working to study His Word and excel at the revealed things, you've prayed, you're owning the fact that this is a decision YOU have to make, you've sought counsel, you've thought critically about it... what's the choice? Ask: Has God built me to do ______? Has He put a love of _____ in my heart? Would I be influencing the Kingdom if I did it? Am I willing to fail at this? Go with your heart; if you're seeking God earnestly, He won't let you fall.