I’ve been working in ministry for 7 years now in the local church and one resounding theme keeps coming up. What is the right decision, or what should I do? To be honest I rarely answer this question unless they are about to do something completely stupid then I may give my humble opinion, usually in the nicest way possible. (Ok maybe not so nice.) But for the majority of people I just start walking with them through their decision making process. What has brought you to this point? Why do you have to make this decision? What are the underlying questions? What are your fears? Give me the pros and cons. Etc... Then we eventually get to this question; note they are usually the ones to bring it up. What do you think God would want me to do? Wow that’s a heavy one. Does God want to be involved in every decision we make, is there always a God vs. World answer to every question. If I chose wrong am I out of step with God’s plan for my life? Here is my answer to those questions. God absolutely cares about you and the decisions you make, He will utilize you no matter what decisions you make to bring him glory, you just have to be ok with the fact that you’re greatest failing is most likely his biggest use for you in ministry.
I think all too often we get so focused on our lives that we tend to forget whose story is the focus. This includes me. I am convinced that the biggest idol in my life is myself. Pride is such a nasty thing. We get so focused on our own lives and rights and feelings that we are often blinded to the world around us. This is reinforced over and over by a world that calls us to focus on self and on our own identity, often our faith and beliefs become just another item in the about section of our FB page. But God has called us to be so much more. He wants to be the star in the movie of our life, but are we ok with just being a sub character or even Cop in donut shop #3 in the credits of his story. As we are making decisions in life what would happen if we took a minute to just go and see what God has for us. For me it boils down to one passage for my life taken from the book of Matthew 28:18-20; “18 And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in[a] the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
To be honest this is not always a popular life choice. I try and follow this and really never know if I’ve got it all right. It’s kind of like if I were an actor and was given one scene to play but had to wait 60 years to see what the final outcome was. I’ve been promised a glorious ending and that it’ll be beyond my wildest dreams. I’ve even been told who the main character is but the rest the rest is not for me to know. At least not right now.
So what do we do with this how can we stop focusing on what God will do in our story and start focusing on His story. Well the concept is actually pretty simple. We follow him, we take the things that get in between us and him and we cast them aside. Most importantly we don’t do this alone. God has given us people in our lives that we can trust and be open with that we can lay these idols before them and they will help us with the backing of God to stomp those idols out and to regain focus on what’s truly important. As the verse says we are to make disciples not converts. Each one of us needs to let go of the secrets that control us and to start walking a path towards God that not only is free from the guilt and shame that blinds us but open to seeing the beauty and wonders that surround us. To stop focusing on the sin itself and start focusing on the person behind the sin. To be able to trust and open up and to be held in accountability with other believers. This doesn’t mean sharing your junk with everyone but rather the select few. Those who will approach you with God’s grace as well as challenge you for the future. That we may start putting God first in our lives fully understanding the sacrifice that comes with that. When we can start doing this I believe we will find that our decision making process may not change but that our list of priorities and the focus of those decisions will. I for one am going to give it a try. It’s difficult but I guess we’ll find out how it went at the end of the movie.
