Making Decisions

Living the Christian life is complicated.  I'm often unsure of the loving thing to do or say; I make lots of mistakes.  

And I struggle with decisions.  I want to do what's right.  But often, I don't know what to choose.

I've met people who've "waited for God's answer" to a life choice, such as which job to take or which house to buy.  They'll say, "God has blessings for you if you choose correctly.  Wait for God to show you the way."  

That sounds good.  But at some point, you have to choose, even if God hasn't "answered."  

I've heard other people say, "Take the job you want.  You're free to do that.  God doesn't have a map that He's hoping you'll follow."

But for me, sometimes, I'm just not sure of the right thing to do...or if one way is more correct than another.  That leaves me stuck.

In the big picture of life, do my daily choices, even the bigger ones, make a difference? 

I don't know.  

If I have a decision I need to make that I think is a big deal, well, maybe it's not such a big deal.  Perhaps a lot of my decisions are no different than choosing to eat a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.   

In the grand scheme of things, what's God concerned about?

As I was considering this, I happened to read Isaiah 40.**  Verse 22 says:

 It is he [God] who sits above the circle of the earth, and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers...




We're like grasshoppers - yes, the Bible really says that!

Maybe my big decisions aren't as important as I think they are.  Maybe I don't have to know the right answers, to choose correctly all the time.  

Okay...no Maybe about it.  It really doesn't depend on me!  It depends on what Jesus has already done, His Word and His Truth.

The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost.  1 Timothy 1:15

But where does that leave me when making a decision?

Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.   Psalm 119:105

It leaves me with God's Word. Being in His Word is a "right thing" to be doing each day - both reading His Word and meditating and thinking on it.

My best work, my best decisions, they'll always be imperfect.  But I'm blessed because He loves me, died for me.  When I'm weak, uncertain, He's strong.  I don't have it all together; I don't have all the answers.  I don't have to.  It's not on me.

For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, "The righteous shall live by faith."  Romans 1:17

**I'm studying Reading Isaiah with Luther.  I didn't randomly open the Bible, looking for an answer; my husband calls that Lucky Dipping!

The Power of the Tongue

James 3:1-10 talks about the power of the tongue, and the passage is a warning to control our words.

...if anyone does not stumble in what he says, he is a perfect man...but no human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison.  James 3:2b, 8

Every time I read those verses, I feel uncomfortable.  My mind remembers the times I've gossiped or spoken unkindly to someone, and I know I'm guilty.

But then, I don't like discomfort; I don't like feeling guilty, so I start to make excuses for myself - "What I said really wasn't that bad," or "She sinned against me first."  

The reality is...God's Word always convicts.  I am guilty.  But I can't stand it, can't and don't like to face my own sin, so I justify myself, my words, and my actions.  After all, I'm not really that bad, right?

Yeah - I know better.  

...Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost.  1 Timothy 1:15

So where do I go and what do I do with my guilt, when I feel that discomfort, that sickness in the pit of my stomach that comes from facing my own sin.

In that same passage, James also says:

From the same mouth come blessing and cursing.            James 3:10a 

I've always read that verse as a warning not to speak ill of another person or to another person.  

But wait.  Lest I forget...the tongue is also an instrument to speak blessings to people.  When Isaiah has a vision of God's throne, he says:

Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!”  Isaiah 6:5

Isaiah knows his guilt before God.  But then, Isaiah gets sent to preach to the people - to speak from his unclean lips.  For God has chosen to use us, to have us share the gospel message with others, from our sinful mouths.

The message of salvation comes from us sinners, and that seems foolish.  But Jesus said:

"Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation."   Mark 16:15

  

And that gospel proclamation includes saying, "Jesus came, He lived, He died on the cross for your sins.  Your sins are forgiven.  Know that and believe it."  



And that's the real power of the tongue - to speak the gospel and the forgiveness of sins.  I need to hear the gospel message, to hear that my sins are forgiven, and I need to speak that truth to others!  

My prayer is, first to ask for help and strength to not gossip and not speak unkindly to others.  Second, to have the opportunity to share the gospel with others, and to tell them of the forgiveness of sins that comes thru the cross.

When You Enlarge My Heart

I will run in the way of your commandments when you enlarge my heart.  Psalm 119:32

For years I've thought about that verse.  And I ask myself, "What does that mean?  What does it mean to enlarge my heart?"

Well, I guess if my heart needs to be enlarged, it must mean that my heart's too small.  

When I think of a small heart, "How the Grinch Stole Christmas" comes to mind. The Grinch's "heart was two sizes too small" and his heart didn't have room for anything beyond himself.


And I guess that's me as well...I was born with a small heart, a heart that only has room for me and my own needs.  Ironically, that small heart is so small that it doesn't even realize it's too small.  It thinks everything is just fine.

And, try as I might, I can't change my heart, can't make myself love people, be unselfish, or anything good.  I'm unable to enlarge or improve my own heart.

But God's Word says:

And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.  Ezekiel 36:26  

It's He, my God, who gives me a new heart, makes my heart of stone into a heart of flesh.

And God's methods aren't a mystery.  His ways are obvious.

First, I hear God's Word.  His commandments expose my heart and my guilt.  His Word convicts me and shows me how black and how small my heart is.

For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.  Hebrews 4:12

And once I'm in the throws of guilt and despair...

Then, thru His Word and preaching, He shows me His love...His love for me and my puny, hard heart. 

But God demonstrates His own love for us in this:  While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.  Romans 5:8

And somehow, someway, in hearing God's Word, in knowing His love...that heart of mine becomes a heart of flesh.  He enlarges it, so that it actually starts to feel, to hurt, and to love.  My heart grows beyond itself, and has room for others.  

Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.  No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us.                          1 John 4:11–12

And it's that heart, that's enlarged by God, that's able to love and serve others, and it begins to do just that.

What Does God Regard?

While Reading Isaiah with Luther by Brian Kachelmeier, I came across a Luther quote.   

Luther contends that a man, who thinks he's godly, might say about his works:

 "God truly has regard for these things"

...when, in fact, God doesn't regard the man. 

What Luther is saying is that a man can look to his own ideas and works, even godly works, and believe that he's pleasing God, when he isn't.  

I've been thinking about that and asking myself:

"What does God regard?"

Or what does God look on with favor or approval?  And how do I know?

In today's society, we might think that our business or job success, our special talents, or even supportive friends and family mean that we're meeting with God's approval.  

About the Christian church, we might think that our worship attendance, the offering, or the building is a measure of God's approval.  

The perception is that God favors us when we're prospering in these areas.

Is that right?  Is God showing His favor or approval by giving us what society sees as good?

What does God regard?

For the Lord sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.  1 Samuel 16:7b 

And that passage is talking about David. 

David went from being a shepherd, to fighting Goliath, to being hunted down by King Saul.  Then David became King.  And as King, he committed adultery and murder.  

Adultery and murder???  

But the Lord looks to the heart.

About half of the Psalms, the Bible's book of prayers, were written by David. 

David prayed to and was honest before his God.  David's heart knew his own sin, and he looked to God for mercy and forgiveness. 

The LORD is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit.  Psalm 34:18

I confess my iniquity; I am sorry for my sin. Psalm 38:18

And now, O Lord, for what do I wait? My hope is in you.  Psalm 39:7 

God calls David a man after His own heart - Acts 13:22.

And David calls God "the God of my salvation" the One "who blots out iniquities" and "creates a clean heart" - Psalm 51.

God "regarded" David because David lived with full dependence on God, including and especially, David trusted God for the forgiveness of his sins. 

So just looking at the good or the bad that happens to me and the sin I fall into - it may or may not be that God regards me well...but it's my heart that He looks at, a heart that is shaped by His Spirit and His Word, by the knowledge that Jesus died for my sins and that the tomb was empty.  

With my heart continually being made new by His Word and truth, I can live in confidence that God has regard for me.

Oh, taste and see that the LORD is good! Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him!  Psalm 34:8 

But this is the one to whom I will look:  he who is humble and contrite in spirit and trembles at My word.  Isaiah 66:2b