Since education has begun for another season, everyone’s back into the flow of work, school, sports, and extra-curricular activities. Our family lives just get busier and crazier as life goes along. A quick hello in the morning is all we may even see of each other during a normal day. Along with this hustle and bustle of the school year comes many varying decisions.
As God’s people we make many daily choices as to what is more important in our lives. We have to constantly ask ourselves, “What would God want me to do…finish homework or watch T.V., get a job or play sports, even worship or sleep?” In the busy flow of today’s lifestyle, we are called to live the antithetical life. This is not always an easy thing to do when we see our own friends renting questionable movies or attending theaters, or when we have to choose between attending an awesome, although ungodly, concert or obeying our parents.
But God has given us guidance in these choices to help us face them. He has equipped us with a marvelous, most precious gift—His Word. Many times it’s demanding and burdensome not only to find the time in our schedules to read it but also to study its poetic language. We have to remember that if we draw close to God through His Word, He will protect us and be with us. James 4:8a so beautifully tells us, “Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you.” What more can be said? God is going to give us the assistance we need to make godly choices in light of His Word.
Even though God promises to help us, He never said that making choices would be easy. It’s especially difficult to make godly choices when all of your close, Christian friends do things that test your morals and standards. We have to weigh things in our minds and compare them with the Bible’s standards in making our decisions. We sometimes need to make a decision to follow His standards, despite the fact that our friends may be doing something morally wrong in God’s eyes. If we make a decision to follow God’s standards, our closer friends may even laugh at us or reject us.
But friends on this earth may come and go, but we have a friend “that sticketh closer than a brother,” Proverbs 18:24b. Christ is our best friend in all situations. He guides us through temptations, and He gives us the peace after the decision that “YES, I am with you. I will still be your God.”
I especially recall some verses about making decisions that really have been encouraging to me: “Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him and he will direct thy paths,” Proverbs 3:3-5. This is especially important as we, young people, choose our future callings and mates. Demanding, crucial choices about what is the most important thing to do with our lives must be made. When we graduate from high school, our futures begin ultimately without parental help, and we can’t be passive and refuse to be good stewards of our talents. Do we want to spend money to attend college? What do we want to do with our lives? How can we put our talents to the best use? Is my boyfriend / girlfriend God’s will for a marriage partner now?” What kind of boyfriend or girlfriend should I look for?
It is so calming to know that in the midst of all these questions that bombard us that we have Someone to trust in to guide us…both in our everyday walk and in our future path. Our Lord will never leave us or forsake us. Through thick and thin, He will guide us. He will love us even though we make mistakes. What a friend our Lord is as we make choices! Let’s remember to let Him be our strength and guide as we make not only daily decisions, but also crucial and important decisions. “Commit thy way unto the Lord; trust also in him; and he shall bring it to pass,” Psalm 37:5. Let’s make Him our strength and guide.
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Brenda is a member of Peace Protestant Reformed Church in Lansing, Illinois. She is a freshman at Dordt College, majoring in elementary education.