Wise and Right Choices

When it comes to significant relationships in our lives, many of us have made mistakes, and some of them have been doozies; they’ve cost us big time and, in many cases, we’ve lost something very precious. There’s a sentiment out there that tells us, “live and learn”, but sometimes we don’t learn. We keep making the same unwise choices. If you’re not in this lane yourself, I’m sure you know someone that very definitely is. We all want to be loved and to experience a deep connection with someone. Many single believers have been praying about this very thing for a long time. They’re wondering what’s going on. Why are they seemingly not making any tangible progress towards the thing they desire most? There may be quite a few answers for this question, but you can be assured that all of these answers have one thing in common. They are rooted in the person’s refusal to make wise and right choices in this area of their lives.

Psalms 84:11(NLT) tells us, “For the LORD God is our sun and our shield. He gives us grace and glory. The LORD will withhold no good thing from those who do what is right.” When I was much younger, I envisioned God as waiting to put the hammer down as soon as I made a wrong choice or mistake. I thought He’d be angry with me for violating His Will and disobeying His Word, but this isn’t who God is. He is our Sun and Shield, our Provider and Protector. He doesn’t withhold blessings from us, we withhold them from ourselves.

Romans 8:7(NKJV) says, “Because the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be.” The carnal mind is a mind ruled by the flesh. Whatever feels right or brings pleasure to the flesh, the carnal mind says, “Go for it!” Romans 8:7 says that this kind of mindset is hostile towards God; it’s an enemy towards His purposes. As we unpack this a bit more, it is extremely important that we consider the lopsidedness of asking God for a blessing, yet we have no intention of stewarding the blessing in a Godly way. We want the blessing of course, but at the same time, we also want to continue maintaining a mindset that is completely at odds with God’s Will and Word. This is in effect what James 1:8 calls a doubleminded person. This verse says that a doubleminded person is unstable in all their ways.

Why is it so important to know this? It’s important to know this because God created the universe in such a way that it does not respond to doublemindedness. It responds to faith. He designed the universe and everything in it to respond to faith because faith is what God used to create everything we see. Hebrews 11:6 tells us that we cannot please God without faith, because when we come to Him, we must believe that He exists, and we must also believe that He is a rewarder of those that diligently seek Him.

A carnal mindset causes us to think our way is best, and that we don’t have to diligently pursue God. We want His blessings, but we will not be committed to change our hearts in order to steward the blessing according to His standard. We’ve done things that we’ve never truly repented for. We’ve hurt others. We’ve altered their trajectories in life to such a degree that they are still being affected by our neglect, immaturity, and selfishness. Yet, we’re asking God to let us have at it again! That’s not gonna work.

The acumen, potential, and habit pattern of making wise and right choices is established by honoring and obeying God’s Word. This is the game changer because it supernaturally causes a person to change lanes. It takes them off the natural plain and positions them on the path of God’s purpose. It takes their thoughts out of carnality and put them on the Lord Jesus Christ. His is the example we must follow.

As we anchor ourselves more deeply in the faith of Jesus Christ, we need to take a closer examination of our past behaviors, attitudes, conversations, and thoughts. At times our hearts have not been centered on the Lord. We’ve been motivated by our own agendas. The thing we must keep in mind is that faith honor’s God’s agenda; it comes wherever His Word is heard and obeyed. It’s not about staying stuck in the past by focusing on past mistakes. It’s about confronting bad behavior and wrong choices so that we can repent from them. To repent is to have a change of heart and a change of mind, and you can’t change something you won’t acknowledge and confront. The wise and right choice is to always put God first, and to come clean when we haven’t done so. This is the humility that unblocks our way and allows us access to the realm where God’s blessings abound. ■

Scripture quotations marked (NLT) are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189. All rights reserved.

“Wise and Right Choices”, by Alexandra Copeland. Copyright© 2020. All rights reserved. All praise and honor to God through Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior.