Make a Decision!

I took my daughter, Esther, to Fry’s Electronics on Tuesday night. If you love electronics, this is your earthly electronic heaven. Aisles after aisles are filled with electronic parts, computers, coolers, graphic cards, candies, and other merchandise. You name it, it’s there! Yet, with so many products comes a dilemma.  Have you ever found yourself standing before a wall of options and choices and all you can do is scratch your head because you couldn’t get yourself to make a decision? That’s exactly what happened to me this week.

Our world is a world of choices! So many choices flood our life that we are often paralyzed by the myriad of options. And as one wrong decision often leads to another, we are trapped in fear of making a bad decision. So we often make no choice at all.

I want to share with you today, don’t worry about making the wrong decision, worry about not making any decision at all!

Make a decision! William James, a psychologist and philosopher, once said, “When you have to make a choice and don’t make it, that in itself is a choice.”

Decide! A wrong decision is better than indecision! If it turns out you’ve made a wrong choice, learn from the experience, say ‘sorry’ to anyone you’ve hurt, and make a new choice and move forward! In fact, there is no such thing as a wrong decision! Wrong decisions help you identify better decisions, which will lead you closer to your desired outcome!

Mark 5 tells a story of a woman who encounters Jesus. The incident takes place on a narrow twisted street packed with a crowd of excited people. The crowd is there to get a glimpse of Jesus. People in the crowd speak of him with deep affection. The beggars and prostitutes whisper his name softly. He is known to heal diseases. He is known to spend time with the sick and the downtrodden. His name is Jesus.

He is on His way to heal Jairus’ dying daughter. And the crowd is following Him to see a miracle. People are fascinated by him. But perhaps some were doubting him. Maybe some were saying, “He can do this.” Possibly others were countering with a doubtful head shake. 

But Jesus’ walk is interrupted by a very sick woman. Her face is marred with lines of agony. Her body is racked with pain. Who is she? For twelve long years she had suffered from bleeding. She wanted relief. She wanted restoration. She wanted  health and life. She decided to try Jesus!

Now you must know that this woman had searched for a healer for the last twelve years.

Mark 5:26 | She had suffered a great deal under the care of many doctors and had spent all she had, yet instead of getting better she grew worse.

I am sure some of these doctors took advantage of this woman’s situation and used every option they could conceive to take her money. Often she must have felt used and abused. But she did not allow her previous decisions to deter her from making a new decision. For twelve years, she made decision after decision, often leading her to people who cared more about her money than her. 

Mark goes on... 
27 When she heard about Jesus, she came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak, 28 because she thought, “If I just touch his clothes, I will be healed.” 29 Immediately her bleeding stopped and she felt in her body that she was freed from her suffering.

All of her previous decisions led her to Jesus. All her choices lead her to healing. What if she had stopped after the seventh year saying “Oh, there is no cure for this. I give up!” She would have missed the physical healing but more importantly she would have missed the spiritual healing! She would have missed Jesus. Her persistent decisions led her closer to her solution - Jesus!

Friends, as we look forward to the launch of Disciple Church, what decisions are you hesitating on making?  Perhaps inviting a friend or a family member?  Perhaps coming and praying for the launch during our Upper Room prayer meetings?  Perhaps merely showing love to that coworker who is hard to bear?  As we live, let us not live with a spirit of fear but a spirit of power, love and self-control (2 Timothy 1.7)!  Let us live, not with regrets of not moving, but with actions and boldness!  Yes, we may stumble, but our God is faithful to pick us up again.  Let us move and decide for the Kingdom of God!