Question & Answer

QUESTION: As a new year starts, I am faced with many different choices and decisions. Can you give me some help so that I make the right decisions?

ANSWER: It is so good that you want to make right choices. Romans 12:1,2 gives us the starting point for making right decisions. This Scripture is for everyone who has accepted the Lord Jesus Christ as their personal Lord and Saviour. "I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God." This would cause us to say with the apostle Paul, "Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?" (Acts 9:6).

If that is the prayer of our heart the Lord will lead us on step by step to where and how He would have us to serve Him. Some further steps for making right choices are:

1. Erase and pray. We need to erase from our thoughts anything that reflects our self-will. A good Scripture to memorize and meditate upon is Psalm 139:23,24: "Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts: and see if there be any wicked way in me."

2. Read and meditate upon God's Word. In Joshua 1:8 we read: "This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success."

3. Consider and think. Don't rush into anything: "He that hasteth with his feet sinneth" (Proverbs 19:2). "Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct thy paths" (Proverbs 3:5,6).

4. Decide and check. "Be [anxious] for nothing, but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus" (Philippians 4:6,7).

God has said: "I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way which thou shalt go: I will guide thee with mine eye" (Psalm 32:8). If we are going to be guided by God's eye we need to walk close to Him. May you, dear reader, experience God's leading and guiding in your life.

—John D. McNeil