WHEN GOD SPEAKS – Part 4

Ephesians 5:17; Matthew 7:21

“Therefore, do not continue in ignorance, but try to understand what is the will of the Lord.” Eph. 5:17 (NAB)

(8)  Romans 14:23.  Another principle for guiding us through the tough decisions of life has to do with doubts.  Paul was using the illustration of eating certain foods as he wrote to the Christians at Rome, but the eternal principle found here is clear: Do I have doubts about the decision I am making?  If I make a decision in which I am confident I have the clear leading of the Lord, and I later fall into trials and am tempted to despair, I can claim the promises of God for enablement, comfort, and anointing.  However, if I deliberately choose a direction about which I have doubts, thus placing myself in temptation’s way, can I really expect God to “bail me out?”

(9)  Acts 1:8; Romans 14:21, 15:1; Titus 2:7; 1 Timothy 4:12.  The Spirit-filled life is a life of witness both in proclamation and practice.  Our witness is not only going on when we purposely speak or allow others to examine our lives but all of the time.  We never cease being a witness of some sort.  As I make decisions in life, I must take into consideration how those decisions will affect my Christian witness.  Will it make me a “stumbling block?”  How will it affect my friends and others who are watching my life?  As a minister, but more importantly, as a sanctified Christian, I deliberately choose not to do some things – not because they would be wrong for me, but because I believe they might influence others negatively.  I would rather give them up than to cause someone else to stumble.

(10)  1 Peter 2:21.  If you’ve never read Sheldon’s great classic In His Steps, resolve to do so in the next month or so (it’s not a theological textbook!).  It tells the story of what happens in one community where God’s people decide to live by this principle: “What would Jesus do?”  As that becomes one of my abiding principles for making tough choices, the choices become fewer and easier to make.  Am I willing to participate in things which I don’t think Jesus would?

Rev. Bruce E. Moyer