Wisdom is a Choice

                                                                                      

I’ve worked hard and I’ve struggled, so why shouldn’t I buy that new pair of shoes, have a drink with a co-worker, or eat that second piece of cake? Everyday our minds are bombarded with justification to satisfy ourselves which leads to hasty decisions. 

God has given us emotions, but they have no brains. Emotions ebb and flow like an ocean, depending on the current of our condition and circumstances, the climate of our mind, and the life within our reef of the ocean. When we let our feelings contaminate our reasoning, we volunteer to follow them into danger. Once in that dangerous deep, we discount, deny, or justify them. The only way to keep them from invading and destroying our logic, reason, and wisdom is to identify the sadness, loneliness, or devalued emotion and then make better choices. Once you give them a name, lonely, sad, mad, you can identify what need isn’t being met for you by others, or what you are not looking to God to fill. Your mind is in control of your emotions (“… and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ, 2 Corinthians 2:5), so you can think and make better choices.  You’ll no longer simply react. “Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”  John 8:32

In every current of our lives there is a line where good turns to bad, moral to immoral, and self care to selfishness or pride. A single choice may not be bad or wrong, but each reactive decision sparked by feelings brings us one step closer to the line.  My life experience has proven this line is thin, slippery, and enticing. The only way to guard against it is to ask myself if my choice is wise for a child of God. 

1 Corinthians 10:23, 24   ²³ “I have the right to do anything,” you say—but not everything is beneficial. “I have the right to do anything”—but not everything is constructive. ²⁴ No one should seek their own good, but the good of others.  

Here is an example. If a male coworker asks me to lunch at a small, out of the way restaurant, is it wrong to go? Not in itself, if I’m unmarried, but I am married. So I ask myself, is this wise for a daughter of the King of Kings? No. I set myself and Him up for gossip even if we don’t do anything wrong. What if I forgot to tell my husband about the lunch and he sees us? What if he attacks me and I am unable to protect myself? By asking the wise and prudent questions, I avoid calamity in my life. I avoid taking one step closer to the line.

Before the next decision you make, ask if it is wise and prudent.  Let me know how it goes.