The Four Pillars of Good Decision Making

Fresh Manna
by Pastor Tim Burt

The decisions you have to make daily may not be at the same level as those working in national security in the pentagon but, you do face decisions that you have to make most every day! It’s good to develop a godly foundation for your decision-making processes that will guide you no matter how big or insignificant your decisions may seem.

The first pillar of your decision-making process is this: put God in the center of your decisions doing things His way. This is the example that Joshua set for all those under his leadership. He made things clear. If you are going to follow me, expect to serve God’s choices. To Joshua, anything short of looking to God in his decisions was out of the question as we see in Joshua 24:15. “But if serving the LORD seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve…But as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD.”

The second pillar is this: know that the place God will ultimately lead you to is a place of blessing. You have to know and have faith that God will lead you to blessing and trust that. It’s as simple as the reason a good parent guides a young child into a right decision. The parent guides that child as an act of nurturing and love desiring the best for him or her. God will develop our character, our trust in Him – ultimately developing our faith. And best of all, that will bring us to destination blessing. His Word bares this truth out and you need to settle in your heart. God’s first desire in the decisions He wants to help us make is our ultimate blessing. Isaiah 1:19 is one of many promises of God that should convince us of this truth. It says, “If you are willing and obedient, you will eat the best from the land.” This was meant to be a motivating truth.

The third and fourth pillar of a good decision-making process is being willing or rightly motivated and obedient. Again this is in Isaiah 1:19. It says “If you are willing and obedient.” Neither of these words can stand alone. In the gospels we read when Jesus was asking Peter to pray with Him. He told Peter to pray because “Satan desires to sift you like wheat.” Peter was very willing to do what was right. He couldn’t believe that He would ever betray or disobey the Lord. He was willing. He said to Jesus, “Even if all fall away on account of you, I never will.” (Mat 26:33) Peter was willing but not obedient. He did not pray. Why? We can only surmise? To tired, to busy, didn’t really see the value, That’s good for Jesus. He’s into that kind of thing but it’s not for me. Who knows? All we know is that he was willing but not obedient. He slept instead of praying and ended up betraying Jesus.

You can also be obedient but not necessarily be willing or rightly motivated. People do all sorts of things – things that look like obedient actions yet their heart is not rightly motivated in their action. Cain obeyed and offered a sacrifice to God but his heart was not right. God wouldn’t accept it. It led to Cain’s rebellion and the murder of his brother. The Apostle Paul said, “If I give my body to be burned but have not love, it profits me nothing.” That could appear as an obedient action but what is unseen is the wrongly motivated heart. The Apostle Paul also said that when men preach, some do so for right motivation and some for wrong. Phil 1:15 says, “It is true that some preach Christ out of envy and rivalry, but others out of goodwill.” They may have been obedient to preach but not all were rightly motivated or willing.

The four foundational pillars of good decision-making are:

Center your decision-making in the integrity of God’s Word and direction.
Know He’ll ultimately lead you to places of blessing.
Be willing which means be motivated from a pure heart with a great attitude.
And be obedient – actually doing what God is asking and leading you to do.

When you learn to develop the instincts of consistently building your decisions upon theses pillars, you will exalt your decision-making processes to the highest and most fruitful level possible and you will “eat from the best of the land.”

Jeremiah 29:11 “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”

In His Love,
Pastor Tim Burt