Decisions Determine Destiny.
Joshua 24: 1 – 3, 14 – 25; Matthew 25: 1 – 13
We make decisions daily – some good, some ordinary and some bad. If we did an audit we would possibly find that the majority of our decisions have been good. By good I mean a decision that has led to your’s and your family’s, friends’ and community’s well-being. Decisions are part of life and some are vital to our well-being and to that of our loved ones’, their peace of mind and prosperity. We also know that we have to live with the consequences of our decisions.
John C Maxwell said, “Life is a matter of choices, and every choice you make makes you.” Every time we ensure we are going to be on time for an appointment is a formation of whom we are becoming. Our choices shape us. To put it another way it is one thing to want to do something, but you have to do it to do what you want to do.
Of course there are Alices in this world like the Alice in “Alice in Wonderland” who asked the Cat, “Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?’ ‘That depends a good deal on where you want to get to,’ said the Cat. ‘I don’t much care where’ – said Alice – ‘so long as I get SOMEWHERE,’ Alice added as an explanation. ‘Oh, you’re sure to do that,’ said the Cat, ‘if you only walk long enough.”
Our choices are the hinges of our destiny. Humans intuitively know this. Joshua certainly did. When Joshua led the descendants of those people whom Moses led out of slavery, he knew that they needed to decide what they believed and whom they would follow. Their world was filled with many gods that people followed. We’re not so different. We do not call the things we value and adhere to ‘gods’ but their grip on our lives, their power to absorb our time and their control over our decisions make them to be like the ‘gods’. Joshua wanted the people to have a clear direction. He didn’t want them to be ‘Alices’ wandering aimlessly or even foolishly like the maidens who took no spare oil for their lamps. This story we read today of Joshua summoning the people offers us a six-step model for decision-making.
The first step that Joshua took was to present the issue they faced. He summoned the leaders and the people who had come from Egypt under Moses and Miriam’s leadership. He gathered them together and presented the issue that they faced. The issue for them was which god they would follow. The first step in any decision making process is to be clear about what the issue is. For them it was the values and belief that would direct their lives – their destiny. That question, ‘what values and beliefs direct our lives?’ is eternal and universal. It is the question upon which our life hinges.
The second step in decision-making is to have information. Joshua provides a brief but comprehensive summary of God’s action. God had called Abraham and Sarah to leave their homeland and follow. They came to know this ‘voice’ as God, the Lord of life. Joshua tells the people how God had guided and helped Abraham and Sarah and blessed them. He relays the history of God’s rescuing, guiding and blessedness through the family line of Abraham and Sarah through Isaac, Jacob, Joseph through to Moses and the Exodus.
The third step in decision-making is considering the alternatives. Implicit in Joshua’s comments is the comparison of God’s rescuing and caring action with the selfish interest and limited horizon of local gods. These gods demanded much but gave little or nothing back. Our decisions should always weigh the benefits and disadvantages of the choice before us. Today our choice about faith in God is heavily influenced by a view that religion is a private affair, a widespread disbelief in God and a skewed view of the value of Christianity. I suspect most people see little value in Christianity. This is due to an ignorance of what Christianity has done for us. It is Christianity that has given the western world its hospitals, education, social-network and democratic systems and values. It is Christianity that was in the vanguard of the abolishment of slavery. Take for example our democratic system. The notion of justice, freedom and equality comes right out of the Bible. Those minds that formed the documents that underpin the democratic system in the English speaking world argued that God gives us freedom, wants justice and treats us as equals. The 17th Century writer John Locke is a major exponent for the theological underpinnings of our democratic system.
The fourth step in decision-making is deciding. We must decide one way or another. To not decide is a decision in itself. Indecision leads nowhere. Indecision will let life blow you this way and that, resulting in a sense of meaninglessness and at worst a despair that nothing matters. Such indecision sometimes results in endless activity. When Joshua indicated that he had chosen to follow God the people responded affirmatively. The people responded that they would not forsake the Lord to serve other gods.[Jos 3:16]
The fifth step in decision-making is evaluation. It takes place following the people saying ‘yes’ to Joshua’s leadership and example. Joshua asks them to evaluate their decision. He asks them to consider their choice and what it means. There are consequences to every decision. There are consequences to following God. So we have this exchange between Joshua and the people of challenge and affirmation. We should not presume that this evaluation merely took place in a few seconds. It may have been days or months as the people weighed the information and responded with their allegiance to God.
We too, must take time to evaluate our following of God. Joshua’s call is not a once in a lifetime choice. It is not a challenge to the non-believer, although it does apply to them as well. It is a call to Christians everywhere and in every time. Christians are to evaluate who they follow and what they value. It is an audit that must be done regularly. The people Joshua challenged were the people of Israel. They were already part of a religious faith system that worshipped the one high God, the Lord of Creation and Rescuer of all people.
The final step in this model of decision-making is commitment. A decision requires commitment to see the decision through, otherwise we waver between one thing and another. Deciding to do something today and then another a week later is not decision making that makes a difference. To waver or change our minds often means there will be no results. It means that we will end up with failure because we did not persevere. Not to exercise discipline is a decision to stay wallowing in the same place without getting anywhere. The commitment requires us to make the secondary decisions that will help us to fulfil our initial decision.
Life is full of decisions – small and large. Sometimes the little ones are as important as the big ones. Our decisions determine our destiny. Our determination re-enforces the decision.
There is the story of two frogs that hopped into the cream bucket. They tried desperately to jump out. They couldn’t. Each time they sunk back into the cream. They tried to climb out of the bucket but slid back into the cream. It seemed hopeless. One of the frogs decided it was hopeless. There was no future. He gave up and drowned in the cream. The other frog persisted. He tried and tried again and again kicking his legs vigorously. Then he felt something hard. The cream had begun to turn into butter. He climbed onto a lump of butter and jumped out of the bucket to freedom.
Remember that God has no need for puppets on strings. God set us free. God gave us the will and the wisdom to choose. We can choose to walk in the light of Christ Jesus or not. That’s largely our choice as to where we will invest our lives. But remember that if we choose to live without God in this life, we may end up living without God in the next. And if we are careless like the five maidens who didn’t think of the future and had no spare oil for their lamps, we too may be found unable to borrow the oil of life and find ourselves on the wrong side of the door of life!
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Peter C Whitaker, Leighmoor UC: 12/11/2017
/ www.leighmoorunitingchurch.org.au
