“Then Solomon stood before the altar of the Lord in the presence of all the assembly of Israel and spread out his hands toward heaven…. (praying to God) that he may incline our hearts to him, to walk in all his ways and to keep his commandments, his statutes, and his rules, which he commanded our fathers” 1 Kings 8:22, 58 (ESV).

We all make choices every day. Some choices are conscious choices like where we will go out for lunch—McDonalds or Sonic. All other things being equal such as cost or distance, we may use a rational thinking process—which restaurant am I likely to get in and out faster so I will be back to work more quickly; or we may use  preference to choose—am I in the mood for French fries or tater tots? Other choices are subconscious such as the thinking patterns that run through our minds, but they are choices even though we do not consciously think about them that way.

We always make choices based on our inclinations. According to R.C. Sproul, “we always choose according to the strongest inclination, or desire, of the moment.” Sproul goes on to say, “…there are times when my desire to sin is greater than my desire to obey; when that happens, I sin. When my desire to obey is greater than my desire to sin, then at that moment, I refrain from sinning. My choices reveal more clearly and more certainly than anything else the level of my desire.”*

Understanding this is helpful to me as I think through my choices and decision-making each day. Like the Apostle Paul, I don’t always do what I know I should. How can I do better? I believe the key is to pray to the Holy Spirit to incline my heart toward pleasing God, to give me the desire to please him in every decision, whether it is what I think, what I say, or what I do. As a believer, I have the gift of the Holy Spirit as my counselor to help me with these matters, and I believe that praying to the Holy Spirit to incline my heart toward Him is what will allow me to use his power in the way that Jesus intended.

Here’s where the rubber meets the road: if we find ourselves at a point of temptation—to eat/drink/inhale/inject something that we know we should not, or to engage in a sexual activity that we know we should not, or to gossip or malign someone, or to lie, or to fly off the handle, or to tell or listen to something that is not wholesome (you get the idea), it is nearly impossible to make good on- the-spot choices without prior preparation. But if we have genuinely thought and prayed through these temptations in advance, then we are much more likely to make good decisions when the temptations occur, and to take the godly course of action. This isn’t just about not doing what is wrong. It is also about doing what is right.

In addition to praying, we must become informed through diligent Bible study about God and his will. We must keep our eyes on God. We must stay in relationship with Jesus. These disciplines help us to train our desires and inclinations in the right way so that in any moment of decision, our desire and inclination to do what is right is more likely to outweigh our desire to do what is sinful. This works in the most everyday situations, from what and how much I choose to eat and drink, to what I decide to watch on TV, to how I think about my supervisor or my coworker, to what I say about my supervisor or coworker. And of course it applies in greater decisions such as who I will marry, how I will raise my children, etc.

One other thing: as I mentioned before, as hard as we try we will still fail sometimes. So how does God view our failures? This is even more complicated because we observe that some people who are not believers seem to be so good and demonstrate successful decision making, while those we know to be believers seem to make bad decisions. This is where our motivation, the true desire of our heart, comes into play. We know that even when we desire to do good, sometimes we fail, just like the Apostle Paul. But when God is evaluating us, he is taking into account our motivation, our desires. So this means that believers who genuinely desire and make every effort to please God will please God even in their failures; and those who are not believers, no matter how “good” they are, will not be able to please God. As 1 Samuel 16:7a (ESV) puts it:  “For the Lord sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.”

The subject of the Chaplain’s Corner last week was “Resolutions,” which are typically big long-term goals. In order to be more successful with our resolutions we need to make the best daily choices, therefore:

1. If you have not already, invite Jesus into your heart.
2. Pray to the Holy Spirit to help you to change the desires of your heart; to incline your heart toward the things of God.
3. Strengthen your practices of prayer, bible study, and meditation on the Scriptures.
4. Be conscious that everything you think, do, and say is a choice and pray to make the godly choice.
5. At the end of each day, evaluate how you did, repent of the bad decisions, and resolve to do better the next day, with the ongoing counsel of the Holy Spirit.

*Reference: The Meaning of Man’s Will, by R.C. Sproul

In Christ,

Judy