The Kite

Have you ever had a decision to make and wanted to make the right one? It is not always easy to make the right choice. We see wrong choices being made every day. Even in the scriptures, we see bad choice after bad choice. Lot chose the wrong place to live and lost his possessions, his wife, and his freedom. King David chose to commit adultery causing him to lose an infant son, his daughter to be molested by her half-brother, and a rebellion led by his own son.

All decisions can have blessings or curses. We need to make the right choices. Sometimes we make all the choices ourselves, but we should rely on godly counselors that God has placed in our lives. Proverbs 11:14 says, “Where there is no guidance, the people fall, But in abundance of counselors there is victory.” But who can you trust?

God has given every one of us a set of parents. They have more experience in this life and will often be glad to share their wisdom. Children, obey your parents in everything, for this pleases the Lord. (Col 3:20) It is amazing how smart I became when my son went to college. Even in my forties, I consulted my dad for his opinions. However, parents are not the only ones God has in our life to consult.

For many of us, he has given us a spouse. Too seldom do we consult each other in decision making. The Bible tells us that we need to “Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.” (Eph 5:21) This passage talks about our spouses. We might think that we rule the house and are to make all decision, but those decisions should be a joint effort.

God has also given us spiritual leaders. Obey your leaders and submit to their authority. They keep watch over you as men who must give an account. Obey them so that their work will be a joy, not a burden, for that would be of no advantage to you. (Heb 13:17) Your leaders want you to make wise decisions that will help you succeed and please God.

Another group of people from which we can seek help is experts. Attorneys, doctors, auto mechanics can give much better advice in their fields than the average person.

Probably the most important counsel that we receive is the peace of God. When we are guided by God, His peace is on the scene. Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful. (Col 3:15)

We may not like the counsel we get because we think it may hold us back. “My parent/boss/pastor doesn’t understand and is holding me back.” Statements like this are made all the time. What we soon forget is that they want us to succeed. They do not want us to be held back.

There is a story about a kite that loved to fly high. It would fly as high as it could possibly go, but it would always feel this tugging. It was the string. The kite thought that if the string would just let go than it could fly even higher. One day, the kite tried really hard to fly higher and higher. It kept pulling and pulling until the string finally broke. The kite thought that with the string now gone it would be able to fly higher. The problem, he found out, is that without the string, there was nothing to guide it. The kite would crash into the ground.

The moral of this story is: The thing that holds you back is the thing that holds you up.

47 Meters Down

A friend suggested that we see a movie, so my wife and I joined him. To be perfectly honest, I had no intention of watching this particular movie. I held very low expectations for it.  The movie was not as bad as I believed it would be. It was, however, very predictable as most movies of this genre appear to be.

As the movie progresses, it is abundantly clear that the reason for the main characters to be in such a bad situation is because of a ridiculous motive. Once they started on this expedition, one bad decision after another created more hazards. At some point, you hoped the characters would at least make one sound decision and not respond out of fear every time. This would not be the case. It actually got to the point where I began wishing that more bad things would happen because, with the decision-making, they must have wanted more terror. If only they would have listened to the simple directions, they were given.

Sometimes we make decisions based on the wrong motivation. We may be trying to impress someone. We may be trying to feel better about ourselves. We may even make a decision just because we do not know what else to do. Before making any decision, ask yourself, “Why am I doing this?” If the answer you give yourself seems to be a shaky excuse, you may want to rethink your path before taking the first step.

Some situations look bad before we get into them. Avoid bad situations. We put ourselves in harm’s way by being at the wrong place at the wrong time with the wrong people. Investigate your path before starting it. Understand the dangers and what to do if more arise. 

Fear is also a problem. When we start making decisions based on fear, we tend to make the wrong decisions. You can always plan for problems to arrive, but we should base most of our decisions on a positive outcome. Expecting bad things to happen normally result in bad things happening. Obviously, even the best-laid plans can result in failure, but as plans fail, then we can adjust. Fear causes us to adjust before they fail and more often than not, lead to failure.

Just like in the movie, listening to sound advice is the way to go. Obeying it is even more important. Not every decision we make is life threatening, but following directions can save you from many terrible outcomes. The “I’ll do it my way” approach rarely works when you are out of your experience level. Listen to people who know. Follow their lead. Make sure you trust the person to whose advice you are taking.

While the saying “Doing something is better than doing nothing” has some credible thinking behind it, doing the wrong thing can have some incredible consequences. Do not be afraid to do something, but plan and do the right thing. Do not let fear hold you back. More importantly, do not let fear guide your decisions.