Six things you can do to make better decisions …

Columbia researcher Sheena Iyengar claims the average person makes about 70 decisions every day. That’s 25,500 decisions a year. Over 70 years, that’s 1,788,500 decisions.

Faced with making that many decisions, you’ll make many good ones … and you’ll have your share of bad ones.

What if God provided you with ways you could make better decisions?

He has! Here are six things God points us to in order to be able to make better decisions:

1. Trust God. Your life isn’t something you live on your own, it belongs to God and is lived in relationship with Him. As we make decisions, God wants us to trust Him in our decision-making because He will never mislead us.

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding. Seek his will in all you do, and he will show you which path to take,” Proverbs 3:5-6.

2. Knowledge of the Word. God reveals Himself, His will for us, truth, and much more in scripture. Developing our knowledge of scripture is a means of being able to make better decisions for our lives.

“Your word is a lamp to guide my feet and a light for my path,” Psalm 119:105.

“All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It corrects us when we are wrong and teaches us to do what is right. God uses it to prepare and equip his people to do every good work,” 2 Timothy 3:16-17.

3. Prayer. Prayer is simply talking with God, a great privilege every Christian has at any time, and in any place. So before making a decision, we can talk with God about it and seek His leading in all of our decision-making.

“So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. There we will receive his mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it most,” Hebrews 4:16.

4. A Helper. When a person is born again into the kingdom of God, the Holy Spirit comes to live in that person and is our Helper for life!

“When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own but will tell you what he has heard. He will tell you about the future,” John 16:13.

“And the Holy Spirit helps us in our weakness. For example, we don’t know what God wants us to pray for. But the Holy Spirit prays for us with groanings that cannot be expressed in words. And the Father who knows all hearts knows what the Spirit is saying, for the Spirit pleads for us believers[l] in harmony with God’s own will,” Romans 8:26-27.

5. Wisdom. None of us start out with the wisdom we will need to make good decisions in life. But we can seek wisdom, which is actually something God wants to give us!

“If you need wisdom, ask our generous God, and he will give it to you. He will not rebuke you for asking,” James 1:5.

“Getting wisdom is the wisest thing you can do! And whatever else you do, develop good judgment,” Proverbs 4:7.

6. Seek wise counsel. Not only is God willing to provide you with wisdom; and not only is wisdom something you can seek after, but you can also gain wisdom from the wise counsel of others.

“Fools think their own way is right, but the wise listen to others,” Proverbs 12:15.

“Plans go wrong for lack of advice; many advisers bring success,” Proverbs 15:22.

“Get all the advice and instruction you can, so you will be wise the rest of your life,” Proverbs 19:20.

Are each of these six things listed above part of your decision-making? Do you think adding these six things to your decision-making could improve the quality of the decisions you make?

Scotty