Well, we certainly do not want to be like the fool; hopefully by now, not only are the benefits of wisdom, and the disaster of folly, evident, but also we are now committed to gaining wisdom in every area of your life. We have already talked about how to obtain wisdom in a previous chapter. Now it is time to look at how we actually apply wisdom to various, actual life decisions. “Do not be deceived, God will not be mocked, for whatsoever a man sows, so also shall he reap” (Gal 6:10). The choices you make have consequences; good decisions lead to blessings, and poor ones to problems. Perhaps the most common cause of financial trouble for Christians is that they made poor decisions in the past and now they have to live with the consequences. Therefore, if we learn how to make wise decisions now, it should keep us out of trouble in the future, as well as clean up the mess we made in the past.

However, Christians are often more influenced by the world than they realize. My doctoral studies were in the sociology of religion. And while I think anyone with a Ph.D. in the social sciences ought to be considered guilty until proven innocent, there are things we can learn from a systematic study of human societies (interpreted of course from a consistently Biblical perspective) that help us understand the problems we face in making wise decisions.

For example, we now live in a pluralized society with many more options available than ever before. In the past, decisions were often easier to make because we just did not have many options. Two hundred years ago, if you wanted to know what your vocation was going to be, you just looked at your Dad’s (or Mom’s). If you wondered whom you would marry, all you had to do was look around at the twenty people near your age in the village you lived in and take your pick! What school ought you to attend? No problem, your local one-room schoolhouse was the only educational opportunity available!

However, when your options expand, your commitment to any one option decreases proportionately. Consider that today you have to find your future spouse from millions of potential mates; pick your vocation out of thousands of different jobs, and choose your education from amongst the hundreds of schools. Perhaps a more prosaic example might help illustrate this; what do you feel like eating tonight; chicken, hamburgers, tacos, sub-sandwiches, roast beef? They are all there for the picking. Furthermore, you have options even between these; if you decide on a hamburger and fries, you can eat at Wendy’s MacDonald’s, Burger King and a host of others. While you may have favorites, you are not really committed to any one franchise over the other. In fact, your TASTES and personal preference becomes the only important criteria. You are not committed to a particular restaurant, and sometimes you find it hard making a choice because there are just too many options.

Life is like that today; there are many potential choices and people often find a real problem committing to one over the other. While it is no big deal in the long term whether you eat at Wendy’s or Burger King, it IS a big deal to decide whom you will marry, where you will work, and how you will build your financial future. This sociological dynamic helps to explain the poor decision-making of so many Christians when they consider major life-choices. Many Christians find that they just cannot choose between options, and even when they do, they are not committed to that choice and do not “stick it out” when times get tough. They lack perseverance and endurance because they lack commitment to their choices. Many Christians will change CAREERS three or four times before they are thirty; they simply do not know which option is “best” for them. Adultery (and divorce) amongst Christians continues to rise, as they look at all the other “options” available to them. And this lack of commitment has a profound effect on their finances; while Christians are trying to find out which career fits them “best” they are not moving up the socio-economic ladder.

Secondly, we live today in a secularized society. Secularization is the sociological process wherein religious ideas lose significance in a culture and are replaced by non-religious ideas. In the past, when the Faith was stronger, men looked to God and His word to govern every area of life. For the past 150 years, ideological forces have launched attack after attack against the Christian faith with the result that most Christians think that the Bible is simply irrelevant to the way they should live. They then, often consciously, adopt pagan principles from this world that are in direct opposition to God’s. For example, many American Christians have developed false expectations about life. They really do not know why they are here, or what their life is supposed to be about other than their own sense of self-importance. If you get a Christian outside of church, and ask him a few questions about what he REALLY thinks is important, you might be shocked. In many respects, his values are little different from those of his pagan peers. Have you ever heard Christians trying to justify Biblically the phrase “but you have GOT to love yourself before you can love others?” Thank you Carl Rogers; you have brainwashed an entire generation of Christians with your anti-Biblical philosophy; and done it so effectively, they actually believe God said it first!

Often, because of secularization, the modern Christian’s real purpose in life is personal fulfillment. He wants to “be, all he can be” and will become quite upset if the church is not oriented around HIS needs. His decisions are based on what seems “right in his own eyes” rather than the commands or principles of God. I cannot tell you the number of times I have talked with members of various congregations, shown them clearly what the Bible teaches about an issue, and heard them respond, “But I don’t see it that way.” Many Christians have unconsciously adopted the humanist assumption that there is no absolute truth, that each man determines “good and evil” for himself. Does that sound familiar? It should, it is what the serpent tempted Eve with, way back in the Garden.

Secularization has so influenced the average Christian that his highest values are personal peace and prosperity. “I want to get through life with as few problems as possible, and with as many toys as I can collect.” When the going gets tough for the average Christian, he gets up and runs away; from his church, his job, his marriage or anything else that makes him feel uncomfortable.

Finally, today we live in a privatized society where our religion is pushed into the private, inner, subjective parts of our lives. Since Christians have adopted many portions of a humanist worldview, and fail to see the Bible as relating to the real world, they restrict their religion to a personal experience. No longer is there any such thing for many Christians as a “thus sayeth the Lord” but rather now it is “what do I think the Lord is telling me?” And the average Christian is convinced that God can say one thing to me, and something quite contrary to you, because they really do not believe in absolute truth.

Many, many sincere Christians believe that God speaks to them through their inner, subjective impressions and can become quite angry if you challenge what “God is telling me to do.” Repeatedly, as I have counseled people and tried to untangle the mess they have made of their lives, often, the initial cause that started the whole chain-reaction was a bad decision based on a subjective religious experience. I have even known fornicators, drunkards and homosexuals attempt to justify their sin by saying that they “felt” sure God understood and approved of their deviant behavior. Sin is no longer a sin, but an alternative “life-style.” In fact, one of the CONSERVATIVE seminaries I attended actually forbade us to preach against any specific sins at any time lest we make such people uncomfortable!

Thus, when we need to be able to think Biblically about life decisions, this three fold sociological dynamic works to undermine God’s wisdom. Pluralization makes it hard to make a decision and stick with it. Secularization gives us the world’s values and priorities so the decisions are often based on godless assumptions. Privatization leaves us in a subjective morass with no absolute truth, and therefore no godly standard to judge between alternatives.

In contrast to the above, Biblical decisions must be based on God’s wisdom (Pvbs. 11:14, 1:20-23). Now as we have already noted, wisdom is a gift of God (James 1:5), obtained through diligent searching in the Scriptures (Pvbs. 2:1-22). Wisdom comes from God’s Word (Deut. 4:5-6); therefore, to obtain it we must saturate our minds with Scripture (Deut. 5:5-ff), meditate upon Scripture (Psalm 119:130), memorize Scripture (Psalm 119:9,11), as well as seek it from those who have already internalized it (Pvbs. 15:22). But again, it is not just an academic understanding of Scripture, but rather the ability to relate specific principles revealed from God’s Word to the world around us. The essence of wisdom is to be able to examine a situation from a Biblical, rather than humanistic perspective, and determine from all the possible alternatives, the one that makes the best use of our limited time, energy and efforts for the glory of God.

Now this is significantly different from the way that most sincere Christians today make decisions. Many Christians will SAY they want to do the will of God; and therefore, in any given decision, they will say they are seeking for God’s will. “Whom does God want me to marry?” “Where does God want me to go to school?” “Which job does God want me to take?” In fact, many Christians can drive themselves “crazy” trying to figure out what it is that God is trying to tell them to do.

Now let me get myself in real hot water here; the above questions are meaningless and the people who ask them are looking for the wrong thing. Wow, bet that one shocked you, didn’t it? But please, let me explain. Only God, as the sovereign King of Creation knows everything. God has the hairs on your head numbered, as well as the days of your life. Does God have a wonderful plan for your life? Of course He does, He has known you and loved you from before the foundation of the world (cf. Eph 1:4,5,11,Rms 8:29, etc). But nowhere does God promise to tell you the specifics of what that plan for you life will be. Instead, His Word gives you specific commands that you are to follow; if you want to know God’s will for your life, just read the Bible and do what God says. But if you want to know which person to marry, or whether an investment is a good one, you will not find the direct answer in Scripture, nor will you find a promise that somehow, He will “supernaturally” reveal those details to you some other way.

In order to know God’s will in all these other areas you would need direct, special revelation. Now, I understand that many Christians today believe that God talks to them and that He will give them specific instructions about various life decisions. I do not have time to argue this point with my brothers but let me just mention this; when people talk about being given specific “guidance” what do they really mean? Almost universally, they admit that they do not hear a “voice,” but rather they have a subjective, inner impression that influences them one way or the other. However, as I have studied the Scriptures, I do not find God ANYWHERE promising to give us guidance through this means. In Scripture, when God gives special revelation, there is no doubt about it; it comes through a dream, a prophet, a theophany, even from casting lots! There is nothing subjective about it. And it is NEVER an inner impression. Furthermore, even in Scripture, special revelation is just that, SPECIAL! It is an unusual occurrence given to “special” people in “special” circumstances for “special” reasons.

Now am I denying that God guides His people? Not at all, He guides me every day. It is not the issue of whether God guides us in life, but rather HOW He guides us. Rather than looking to special revelation, instead, God repeatedly encourages, exhorts and commands His people to seek for wisdom, and to apply that wisdom to life decisions. He even inspired an entire book to be written about wisdom, Proverbs. Therefore, Christians need to start thinking Biblically about what God Himself said would be the normal source of His guidance - applying Scriptural principles to the situations before us.

But the problem is, most Christians today spend very little time in the Word; they do not know it, they do not understand it, and they do not apply it (which just may go to explain why the Church is in such terrible shape today). Furthermore, the most popular doctrine of decision-making based on subjective, inner impressions is often touted as being more spiritual than using reason, logic and Scripture! I cannot tell you the number of times that people have come to me, justifying some stupid course of action because “God told me so in His still small voice.” Universally, these people end up making dumb decisions that plague them throughout their lives, but instead of learning from their mistakes, they repeat them time, and time again. The Bible has a word for people who make life decisions this way; they are called, “fools.”

Now, not for a moment am I minimizing the supernatural aspect of the Christian life. I believe with every fiber of my being that God’s providence surrounds every nanosecond of our existence and that He protects, guides and shapes every aspect of our lives. There is no doubt in my mind that at times, every one of us needs a supernatural revelation of God’s grace to guide us. All I am saying is that that grace will come in the form of wisdom; the ability to make good decisions based on an accurate understanding of God’s principles in Scripture, applied to real life situations, NOT through an “inner impression.”

Let me see if I can illustrate the above from the life of Solomon, the wisest man who ever lived (apart of course from the Lord Jesus). You remember the story of how God came to Solomon in a dream and promised to give him whatever he asked (1 Kings 2:3ff); Solomon did not ask for wealth, glory, victory over his enemies or even long life. He simply wanted, “wisdom to judge God’s people righteously.” God was pleased with Solomon’s request and granted him not only wisdom, but also wealth and power. He also promised Solomon long life, provided he obeyed His law.

The very next incident recorded in Scripture is Solomon having to adjudicate a dispute between two harlots; one of whom had accidentally suffocated her baby, then switched the little corpse for the live baby of her room-mate. Now Solomon had both mothers before him, both pleading for the baby, and neither having an independent witness to identify the real mother.

Everyone knows what happened next; Solomon asks for a sword, commands the living child to be cut in two and each mother to be given half. The real mother says, “NO!” and offers to give the baby to the other woman. The false mother says, “Sure!” Thus, Solomon knew who the real mother really was.

Now, has anyone else ever had a problem with this story? Clearly, Scripture intends us to see this incident as the supreme example of the wisdom that God had promised to give to Solomon, but what really made it so wise? I mean, after all, what kind of solution is this? Wouldn’t even an ungodly woman be disgusted and shocked at the King ordering the murder of a child and try to prevent it? How can Solomon’s ruse be considered so wise because surely, BOTH women would have objected to His “solution?” How could he have known that one woman would be so evil as to consent to a baby’s brutal death?

Well, think with me for a moment, and maybe we can see just why this decision WAS so very wise. Wisdom is the ability to apply Biblical principles to real world situations. Solomon knew what the Bible has to say about coveting and envy, two of the most destructive sins anyone can fall into. Furthermore, Solomon understood the real importance of this child. In ancient Israel, a woman on her own had few economic options. She did not have the physical strength to work hard enough in the fields to provide for her needs; there were very few office jobs available three thousand years ago. She needed a husband to work to provide for her. A woman without a husband had few options, one of which was prostitution.

These two women fell into that category; they were harlots and sold their bodies to make a living. But prostitution is a short-term vocation; after a few years, your body grows old, and men do not want to pay you for the use of it any more. Thus, as a woman increases in age, her economic opportunities decrease. Furthermore, since prostitution is immoral, she could not count on the charity of the covenant community when she got too old to “walk the streets” any more. Children in ancient cultures were your “social security.” When you got too old to work, your grown up children worked for you and took care of you, just as you had taken care of them when they were young. Thus, the concern for the babies born to these two harlots was not just for the pleasure of having a child, but rather the children were their lifelines in the future. Their babies would grow up to be men, who could work and support their aged mothers. Without these children, these women were literally doomed to starve to death.

Therefore, there was a direct economic incentive to having the living baby. Never forget that having children survive infancy is a blessing of God that comes from faithful covenant living. Harlots by definition are outside of the covenant. Living children therefore would be rare, and a precious commodity. For more details, see Deuteronomy 28:11, 18 for the blessings God promises to those who keep His covenant, and the curses to those who break it, especially regarding children.

Now Solomon, because he was wise, understood all this. This was more than a custody battle for the pleasures of raising a child; but rather a cold hearted business deal with literally life or death implications for both parties. The woman who got the child had a chance of being taken care of in her old age. The woman without the child risked freezing or starving to death in the future.

Now, let us look at his decision from this perspective. One of these women was a cold-hearted “gold-digger” whose only concern was for her own well-being. When her own child died because of her irresponsibility, she did not grieve, or in any way demonstrate a natural, motherly affection for the lost child. Instead, she calmly and coolly switched the babies, not caring at all for the actual little baby who had just died. Neither did she have any compassion for the effects it would have on the other woman. Hence, she cared nothing at all for the baby she had stolen. All she wanted was her “social security.”

A woman this cold, this calculating, this hardened is probably motivated by envy. Envy and coveting can be distinguished. Coveting is wanting what someone else has; envy is being angered and outraged that they have it and you do not. Envy means that you are willing to forgo the benefits of the “thing” itself, if you can deprive someone else of “it.” Solomon, knowing the kind of woman who could steal someone else’s baby without shedding a tear for her own dead one, shrewdly determined that envy was at core of this issue.

Therefore, he played on this envy by ordering the living baby cut in two so that neither mother would receive its future earnings. And sure enough, the true mother, placing love for her child above even her own welfare, was willing to give it away. She was willing to die herself to preserve the baby’s life. And the wicked mother, so motivated by envy that she was willing to see them both go without the blessings if she couldn’t have the baby herself, was willing to see the baby die.

And so, Solomon made the “right” decision. Notice, that God did not whisper the answer into his ear. No prophet came to give Solomon special revelation from God. Solomon did not follow some inner, subjective impression. He analyzed the character of the two women involved. He understood what the Law said about coveting and envy. He carefully considered the motivations behind this action. And he came up with a plan that exposed the real culprit.

As I studied this incident in our family worship, I literally had to fall on my knees at the wisdom and grace of God. Far from this being some ancient cliché, it does in fact illustrate all the relevant principles of making wise decisions; a comprehensive understanding of Biblical principles and how they relate to real-world situations. While Solomon was unique in that no other man ever had the same degree of wisdom, we are given his Proverbs to study that teach us the same thing. And that is how we need to make decisions.

The Biblical Method of Decision Making
Ok, now, we all agree that wisdom is the means of making wise decisions, but how do we actually apply this in a practical way? Our basic premise is that the Bible is sufficient to guide us in all of life’s decisions even in areas that the Bible may not specifically address. What we must be able to do is go from general principles to specific applications; what we have noted elsewhere as the distinction between case law and statute law (1 Cor 9:9, 1 Tim 5:17-18, Josh 1: 8 Deut 6:5ff).

Since wisdom is a gift from a gracious God, wise decision-making is thus a result of spiritual growth and cannot be separated from spiritual maturity (Rom. 12:1-2, Heb. 5:14). This is why young men are admonished repeatedly to “search for wisdom.” It is also, why we are to revere older men and respect them; presumably, they will have learned much about life as they themselves applied wisdom to various situations.

We can summarize the process in the following steps; first, we need to prepare our hearts. Psalm 66:18 says, “If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me.” Sin separates us from God and from one another. If God is withholding wisdom from us, it may well be that there is sin in our life that may be causing the problem. Perhaps we are self-oriented, or have bitterness and anger towards another; maybe we are seeking our own glory, rather than God’s. The simple fact is that Christians often make foolish decisions because their heart attitude in any number of places is wrong, and until we get it right, God is not going to bless us.

Therefore, we need to search our hearts before God and ask Him to grant us repentance. We then need to confess that sin (1 John 1:9) and receive from His hand the forgiveness God has granted us in Christ Jesus. Since God’s providence governs every area of our life, and since His highest goal for our life is to conform us to the image of His Son Jesus (Rms 8:29), it just might be that the real cause of our financial problems is that God wants us to get certain things in order. As an old friend and mentor likes to say, “God is more concerned about your character, than your comfort.” God will use whatever is necessary to bring us to a point of humility before Him and dependence upon Him. Thus, making sure that we are right with God is the first step to receiving the blessings of God.

Next, we need to bathe the decision in prayer (Eph. 6:18). Most Christians will pray about an important decision, but what exactly is it that they are praying for? I would argue that we pray, as an acknowledgement before God, and a reminder to ourselves, that we are His servants, and that our goal is to glorify His name. Yes, we are asking for wisdom, but prayer is also a time to haul out our heart before God and have Him expose what is really inside.

There is something remarkable and yes, “supernatural” that happens when we get down on our knees before our Holy Father and get serious about communicating with God. Things suddenly take on a new perspective that you might never have seen before. Ideas you never would have thought start popping up. Nuances you might otherwise have missed suddenly become “crystal” clear. Prayer is real communication with the living God. It is not a perfunctory ritual, but rather vital communion and if we take the time and make the effort, God will often graciously give us wisdom, insight and understanding that we could never have achieved on our own.

Secondly, as we pray and think about whatever decision we have to make, we do so in the context of determining basic Biblical objectives for your life. No decision is made in isolation; there are always implications to every other area of our life. In order to make the best use out of limited time, money and opportunities, we must relate THIS decision to the overall vision for what we think God wants to do with us.

What does God want to do with your life? Our ultimate goal ALWAYS is to glorify God (John 17:3, Jer. 31:33-ff). It is not to win the accolades of the world, it is not to impress our family or friends, and it is not to seek our own ends or to live a life of ease and comfort. Our goal must be to serve the gracious, wondrous and loving God who created us, sustains us and redeems us. Everything else in life MUST flow from this basic orientation. Knowing that you are here to serve God, and not for God to serve you is the source of your strength and endurance in hard times. Commitment to the glory of God is what allows you to find and fulfill your calling in God’s great plan. A commitment to God’s glory orients every other decision that we make in life.

Furthermore, we have to understand that the ongoing process for every Christian is learning how to become conformed into the image of Christ (Rom. 8:29). Every trial, test, tribulation or affliction that we face always has as its ultimate purpose glorifying God by shaping and molding our character (1 Ptr 4:1-2, 12-14). In this life, God uses every single incident in our lives to make us more humble, more dependant on Him, more gracious and sacrificial towards others, more obedient to His will.

Then, in light of the above, we have to understand that God has gifted each man in a special way that makes a unique contribution to the spread of His Kingdom, and therefore the revelation of His glory. Now, discussing “spiritual gifts” always causes controversy (1 Pet. 4:10), especially those that we would consider “supernatural.” Let me chicken out here by saying I’d rather not get off on that particular rabbit trail.

Instead, regardless of what you understand a “spiritual gift” to be, let me use the term “calling;” a perfectly good word used by our ancestors to talk about the life work that God gave each man to do. Today we commonly restrict the word “calling” to the ministry; i.e., a man is called to the pastorate, or the mission field, or even to a specific church. But our fathers in the faith believed that the ministry was only ONE of many “callings.” Some men were called to the ministry, but others to being farmers. Some men were called to run a shop, others to work as craftsmen. In other words, according to the providence of God, He so arranged the particulars of the world, that each men was especially gifted and prepared by Him to have some meaningful work to do. Every man had his “place” with contentment, and prosperity resulting from men finding that “place” (or calling) and working diligently at it.

Now for the glory of God our basic task is to bring every area of life into submission to His will. (Matt. 28:19-20). And in order to subdue every area of life, men must therefore understand where they can most efficiently use their limited time and labor in order to see the greatest return. To do this, you must be able to accurately evaluate your individual and unique strengths and weaknesses. Romans 12:3 says that each man ought, “not to think more highly of himself than he ought to think; but to think so as to have sound judgment” To find our calling, we need to have a sober and reasonable assessment of who and what we really are. God gifts different men, differently! And a wise man is one who can take a good, hard, honest look at himself; analyze what he is good at, and more importantly, what he is NOT good at and determine how he can best use what God has given him.

Repeatedly, when I have seen men consistently make bad decisions in life, it often comes back to a failure to make just this kind of sound, self-evaluation. Never underestimate the human capacity for self-deception. I have known men who couldn’t put two sentences together coherently insist that God had “called” them to preach. I have known men who believed they were geniuses at making money repeatedly bankrupt their families. I have known men who thought they were great managers who couldn’t organize anything, except a disaster. In all these cases, pride got in the way of making an honest assessment. Some men just cannot accept the fact that they are lousy at whatever it is that they do. Rather than take the next step, thinking about what they CAN do, they refuse to humble themselves and learn. It is as if they see life as some sort of great competition, with them having to measure themselves by others. But God made you, YOU, for a good reason. In some way, the unique gifts, talents, abilities, personality and life-experiences God has given you, serve a purpose in God’s great plan (1 Cor 12:1ff). You are not competing with your brother, and it is no good wishing you had his strengths or gifts. Nor does it do you any good to complain because you are not taller, brighter, prettier, more athletic, etc. You are going to be held responsible on the Day of Judgment for what you did with what God gave YOU; not what He gave someone else (see Matt 25:14ff).

Therefore, to have wisdom in making a life decision requires us to have accurate information. If we have a good idea of what God has called us to do, and if we have been working diligently at that calling, it will be far easier to evaluate future situations and make optimal decisions. In one sense, wise-decision making is a process of eliminating options. Every day, there are thousands of decisions that you must make from the mundane (what color shirt will I wear?) to the profound (how do I deal with this problem?). Wisdom helps you to eliminate many possibilities and narrow the options.

If we know why we are here (for the glory of God), and what we are supposed to do (work diligently at the calling God has given us), we can therefore eliminate many options that would just not be wise. Let’s look at some examples. Say a young man, otherwise quite bright, does not do well in mathematics. Oh, if he studies hard enough, he can pass the courses, but he will never do much better than a C- (or B+ with grade inflation). Now when this kid is considering his future, it is unlikely that he is going to have a glorious career in nuclear physics, engineering or any other calling that requires good, intuitive mathematical skills. Yet, say he WANTS to be an engineer. Well, he just might make it through college and get his degree, and he might just find a job somewhere, but really, is he any good at what he does? Probably not, and therefore he is unlikely to progress very far in that field, unless he gets some kind of lateral “promotion” where he is able to work at something he is good at (for example; maybe he ends up managing the office, ordering supplies or even becomes a salesman).

Now true, someone with mediocre ability, but an outstanding work ethic can often achieve astounding things. Any man who applies himself diligently and conscientiously to whatever task God sets before him will be blessed in the long term. But surely, a man ought to carefully consider what he is good at BEFORE he makes a major life decision, such as his calling, and then invests years (and money) in training and education. Many men suffer financially today just because they are working at things for which they were not called to do. If possible, they ought to consider changing vocations.

Yet, most men today do not think in terms of calling, but simply of jobs. Their greatest and highest goal is their own sense of self-fulfillment. They mess along for years trying this and trying that, until reality hits, and they need a job, any job, so they can pay the bills. Sometimes, God in His sovereignty gives grace and they end up working at something they are gifted at. Other times, men find themselves in a dead end job, with no upward mobility and working at something they find unchallenging and unrewarding.

If you know your calling, you can invest your time and your money wisely getting the best out of both. You therefore can make better decisions about what education is required, and which are the best schools, in your price range, that you should attend. You can decide which areas of the country offer the best return on your investment, so you can plan where to live. In short, simply knowing your calling automatically reduces thousands of options, and therefore makes wise decision making all that much easier.

How do you find your calling? Well, there are a number of different ways. There are tests today that compare your personality, temperament and skill set with people who are successful in various fields. The idea is that to the degree that you share the same qualities, you should be able to do as well as they did in the same vocations. Parents ought to consider giving their teenage children these kinds of tests because they might help to clarify and quantify some things that you intuitively know, but cannot necessarily articulate.

A better way is to look at successful people in various jobs and spend some time with them. Ask them about their education and training. Find out what they do on a daily basis and what skills they need to do their job well. If possible, young men especially might want to spend part of a summer working for such men in some capacity so they can get first hand experience at what it takes to work in that calling. If say at fourteen, a boy spent the next three summers working part time, as an intern, he could conceivably investigate six different careers before he had to make up his mind about his own education. If you combined this with the various occupational tests mentioned earlier, a young man could have a pretty good handle on his calling, BEFORE he ever took one single college class. Thus, when he did get to college, he could make the best investment of his time and money, to get the best education possible that would help him the rest of his life.

Thirdly, if we want to make wise decisions, we need to establish the Biblical parameters for the specific issue. By parameters, I mean the boundaries of what Scripture itself requires. Obviously, no matter what gifts or talents you may have, God does NOT intend you to have a rewarding and glorious career in international drug running. God simply forbids some things, and therefore you can rule them out ahead of time. And yet, God specifically commands you to do certain other things, and if your decision-making is an attempt to do an end run around God’s revealed will, you will not be blessed.

For example, God commands us to work hard (2 Thess. 3:10) so any decisions we make about life that are attempts to avoid work are inherently sinful. If a job opportunity came up where you knew that you would not be working at your calling, but where the money was easy and the work light, you ought to know that this will not be blessed. Do these kinds of opportunities come available very often? Well, no, but some men THINK that they can find such jobs and are discontent with their present ones because they have to WORK! Many men invest a lot of time and money in “get rich quick schemes” that promise a life of ease. I have been to their seminars, watched them park their expensive cars outside to incite greed and covetousness amongst the “recruits.” The idea is that if you buy into “my” plan, you can be rich too. Such men talk a lot about their boats, expensive vacations, and all the accouterments of wealth, but seldom about one’s calling, or the value of hard, diligent work. To the contrary, they despise work and are proud of it; “Don’t work harder, work smarter!”

Another parameter of Scripture is that we are commanded to care for our families (1 Tim. 5:8), so therefore, if your “calling” cannot provide for your family, then you have not found wisdom. Any decision that undermines, impoverishes or puts our family on hold, is not wise and is to be avoided. Many men in “the ministry” need to get a clue and a real job. Many men trying to “build their dream” by working for themselves need to wise up and start taking care of their families. I will get myself into trouble here by saying this, but I really do wonder if the lack of blessing on our missionary work has to do with the way that traditionally we have treated missionary families. Most often, the children were sent away to boarding schools while Mom and Dad “ministered” someplace else. In effect, they delegated the responsibility of raising their children to a school. For nine months of the year, strangers raised their kids and no matter how sincere the teachers, they are not substitutes for the parents. Anyone else see a possible connection here between the typical MK’s reputation and the decisions their parents made?

Scripture also provides us a parameter for making life decisions in that we are not to go into debt (Rms. 13:8). Now an argument can be made that there is a difference between consumer debt and business loans. A business loan is an investment that someone makes in your business. It is a covenant; you promise to do everything you can to make the business successful and the bank (or some other investor) puts up the operating capital. You then work on building your business, and the bank receives a portion of your profits via interest payments. I would not say that these kinds of loans are necessarily sinful, but they are dangerous. Both you and the bank are taking a risk; and generally speaking, usually, the bank wins the bet.

I do though have a real problem with what are called “consumer” loans. A consumer loan results from someone wanting something now, but cannot pay for it. Since they do not have the money for their car, TV, furniture, clothes, vacation, etc., they borrow the money, either formally through the bank, or informally through a credit card. However, satisfying that whim is expensive (as we note elsewhere) and most Christians at the end of their financial rope got there by spending themselves into the poor house (to mix a metaphor or two). Those interest rates will kill you every time. Borrowing money for consumer items is just plain, stupid.

And God says, “don’t do it.” A borrower becomes the slave of the lender (Pvbs 22:7) and we are called to be slaves of Christ, and no one else (1 Cor 7:22). The only debt we ought to owe is the debt of love (Rms 13:8). Therefore, if we cannot pay cash for something, then we have no right to “own” it and ought to forgo it until we can pay for it. Thus, many decisions in life can be greatly simplified by asking, “Can I pay for it?” If you can’t, then it is not wise to pursue that course of action.

Fourthly, if we have our goals in line with God’s, understand and are working at our calling, and follow the general provisions of God’s commandments, we can then approach every situation by deciding things properly and in order (1 Cor. 14:40). God is not a God of chaos or confusion. He governs His creation with wisdom, according to reason and logic. Jesus Himself is called the “Logos” as one of His divine titles. If we examine a decision rationally, it is NOT pitting our limited brains against the sovereignty of God, but rather seeking in submission to His will, to use a tool of dominion He gave us for His glory.

Granted, “the mind of a man plans his way, but the Lord directs his steps.” However, this is NOT an attack against using good thinking skills, but rather an acknowledgment that God ultimately and finally controls everything that happens. We have many plans in this life that are good, sound and rational, but for whatever reasons seem good to God, He does not bless (and we would have to BE God in order to understand why He does the things he does). But the fact is, that this Proverb does not condemn men making plans, in fact to the contrary, it assumes it. It simply reminds us who is boss!

Therefore, we need to have a goal, a plan to reach that goal, and then do our homework to examine every side of an issue before we commit ourselves to a decision. Simply sitting down and thinking through a situation will often eliminate certain options, and place other options in a better light. You can even compare the various pros and cons against each other to see whether the benefits outweigh the deficits. And as you think, and pray, and consider, God will give you wisdom and insight.

Now, there are some men who are so good at looking at all sides of something that they end up “paralyzed” and cannot make ANY decision; sometimes this is called, “paralysis by analysis.” When you can see all sides of an issue, it can be hard to choose between them. However, to make NO decision, is in effect to let someone or something else make the decision for you. Therefore, you do the best you can, make a decision, and then stick with it.

Without planning, you cannot organize, or allocate resources wisely (Luke 12:42,1 Cor. 4:2, 1 Pet. 4:10) or get the best returns for your efforts. Therefore, we need to learn how to make decisions based on life goals, not circumstances. Again, God is sovereign and though we may think we want one thing in life, He may well decide (for whatever reasons are good to Him) to prevent us from achieving that particular end. But how will we know what God does not want us to do, unless we first try something? Therefore, every man, regularly in life ought to sit down before God and set realistic goals. Your life is only about seventy years long. And though that might seem like an eternity when you are twenty, trust me, the time will literally fly by before you know it. One day soon, you will wake up, look into a mirror, and wonder, “who is that old geezer staring back at me?”

But if you set a life-goal, you can then begin to carefully plan how to get from where you are, to where you want to be. God may certainly direct your paths other that what you intended, but at the same time you cannot steer a ship at rest, only when it is moving. If more Christian men did this, set a goal and then planned the intermediate steps required to reach that goal, we could transform our families in just one generation.

Granted, the goal must be realistic. Fantasies about being a great athlete and winning international acclaim for our skills are self-deception if we do not have what it takes. No “power of positive thinking” will give you the ability to fly like Superman; you have to have been born on Krypton for that! Setting a realistic goal is based upon the world as it really is, not the way you might like it to be (in a perfect world I would be two inches taller, 40 pounds lighter, 30 IQ points brighter and eating Twinkies or Ho-Ho’s would be a sacrament!). But once we DO have something of an accurate understanding of the world, and see how we fit into it, we can and should then set goals. Once we know where we are supposed to be going, we can then start planning how to get there.

Christians therefore ought to set long and short-term goals. When we stand before God on the great and glorious Day of Judgment and look back over what we have accomplished for His glory, what would we like to see? What contribution will we have made to advance His Kingdom? What legacy will we have left behind for our children and grandchildren to follow? Now, if we know THAT, what do we need to do today that will bring us closer to that goal?

Thus, many options can be ruled out because though they may well be good in and of themselves, they would not help us reach that goal. Rather than just waiting for “good things” to happen to us (which may or may NOT happen, according to God’s providence) we are actually working at MAKING those good things happen. And yet, many Christians seem to live their lives passively, waiting for God to do something “supernatural” to get us out of the hole we have dug for ourselves. Yes, we believe in miracles; our gracious God does do remarkable and wondrous things. But God also commands us to actually DO something as the means by which He will bless us.

Does this sound “fleshly” or “unspiritual?” Maybe it does, but think about this; when you are hungry, and you pray and ask God for food, do you then wait for a bag of “good things” to miraculously appear on your doorstep? Of course, not; you know full well that normally speaking, the way that God is going to feed you is by giving you a job, that pays money, that allows you to go to the store and buy food to eat. Furthermore, it is the grace of God, that within certain limits, you can buy what you want, and enjoy the food you like. When you were a baby, your parents had to spoon-feed you; but as an adult, you now take responsibility to do those things for yourself. It is really not all that different with setting a life goal; you pray for God’s wisdom, you seek first His Kingdom and righteousness, and then you get off your can, go to work, and rightfully expect that God is going to bless you.

Sadly, many Christians do not seem to “get it.” They want God’s blessings, they pray for God’s blessings, they “claim” God’s blessings, but they never do what He tells them to do to receive His blessings. And one of those “things” is wisely using what is available today, to bring about what we desire for tomorrow. Instead, we often find ourselves in a rut, doing the same things over and over again hoping that God will step in and supernaturally make things different. In some respects, we are little different from those statistically challenged fools who really do place all their hope in winning the lottery. Sure, some people DO win the lottery, but hundreds of millions of others have to play and lose for the jackpot to be worth winning.

Your life COULD be radically different in ten years time, IF you just get realistic goals, figure out a plan, and then start working diligently and conscientiously at meeting that goal day by day. A decade may seem like an awfully long time right now; but I assure you, it will come much quicker than you think.

But how do we find the right goal? The answer is really quite simple; seek godly counsel, always (Pvbs. 15:22). God gives wisdom, not just through our own individual prayers and petitions, and not only through our own efforts in Bible study. The myth of the sturdy individualist doing it all on his own is a humanist fallacy. God created you to live within various covenant communities; Family, Church and State. You need your parents, your brothers and sisters in Christ, your elders and their wisdom because God has placed them in your life. You can learn from their mistakes, not have to duplicate their disasters, and see better, more effective ways to reach your goals through their wisdom and insight. Even a midget can see further than a giant, if he stands on the giant’s shoulders.

Proverbs 13:20 addresses the same issue from a slightly different perspective; “He who walks with a wise man will be wise but the companion of fools will suffer harm.” If you want to be wise, hang out with wise people! The Apostle Paul put it slightly differently, “Do not be deceived, bad company corrupts good morals.” The people with whom we associate, says something important about who and what we are, inside. Furthermore, who we are, will be greatly influenced by the company we keep. One of the reasons why God created the various covenant communities is so that His Law would be reinforced in all these areas of life. Therefore, if you want wisdom, go to wise people! But of course, that is the problem; so often we do not want wisdom, we want justification. We want people to agree with what we have already decided to do anyway. We do not want to receive any criticism. And this again, is acting like a fool.

We need to seek counsel from wise people; i.e., those who have not only an academic understanding of the Bible, but have demonstrated wisdom through their ability to make it work in practical ways. This is not just asking for advice, but rather going to another and asking them to give you a real objective evaluation of who you are, and what you can do. Ask them to evaluate the factors that went into your decision, and see if you overlooked something. What principles have you neglected, what concepts did you not properly apply?

Yet rather than seeking the wisdom of others, most of us keep people at an arm’s distance; it requires humility to listen to what others may really think of us. We prefer ignorant bliss to real wisdom. The fact is, most people will only tell you what they think you want to hear, because they fear offending you. Many of us have become so good at insulating ourselves from any kind of criticism that it takes a disaster in our lives before we will wake up. Therefore, you have to convince them that you are serious, that you really want their considered opinion and that you will not get angry if they tell you something you do not want to hear.

This is not just wise, but actually commanded. God requires us to respect age and life experience and listen humbly to the wisdom our elders in various spheres have gleaned over the years (e.g., 1 Ptr 5:5). Will they always get it right? No, sadly, even the wisest Christian elders will make many mistakes. Even sadder, some of them never learned from their mistakes. The worst church I ever pastored, with the most ungodly people ever to call themselves “Christians” in my experience was composed of people over the age of seventy. But I learned more about what NOT to do from them, than from any other church in my professional career. Twenty years later and I am still using that church as a bad example, NOT to be followed.

Finally, in applying wisdom to life situations, submit your decisions to the sovereign will of God. (Jas 4:14ff). We plan, but God directs. Therefore, always give God the opportunity to change your direction. As you work at reaching your goal, God will give you greater and greater wisdom; sometimes that will mean altering your goal (or plan) to bring it into conformity with the “real” world. Because of that wisdom, you may have to occasionally change direction. The goal remains the same, but the way to reach that goal may vary. But be comforted, if you are generally seeking His glory, God will keep you from making a mistake. His providence DOES control every part of your life and He will not allow you to make some disastrous mistake that will ruin you.

After six years as an enlisted man in the Air Force, I went to college and then seminary. For a number of reasons I resisted my calling as a pastor, and sought to go back into the Air Force as an officer. To be honest my reasons were good ones; when I looked at what a pastor did, and how he spent his time, I firmly believed I could have a more effective ministry as a layman, in the military, than the average pastor does being paid to work in a church. So, I went to the recruiter and took all the tests to be an officer. And, if you will forgive my lack of modesty, I did quite well in the examinations and interviews. I was practically guaranteed a slot as an officer candidate but as in all decisions, I bathed this in prayer and asked God to keep me from making a mistake. What happened next was a comedy of errors, literally. Everything that could possibly go wrong did go wrong, from the recruiter filling out the wrong paperwork, to losing my files to sending them to the wrong agency. All of these things were completely beyond my control. Eventually, the captain in charge offered me a shot if I could go in two weeks. I agreed and all I had to do was take one little eye test, which I failed. It seems that I have a problem with my left eye, one that I was born with, and that problem kept me from qualifying as a navigator, the only position open!

Now do you see the beauty here of what God did here? God wanted me to be a pastor, but I misunderstood and was searching to do something else (and if you knew me, and my sense of direction, the very idea of my ever navigating an airplane is really hilarious! I get lost on my way to the bathroom). So, God KEPT me from making a poor decision, and was very gracious in doing so. From the time of being in my mother’s womb, God formed me in such a way, that I would be prevented from making a foolish choice.

Now, to put the above story in context; I also believe that if you really pester God about something, He just may give it to you. I have known men who wanted to marry certain women. And though counseled against it, insisted that this was what they really wanted. And in time, they prayed, fasted, and whined before God, they did marry the woman of their “dreams.” But later on, the “having” was not so satisfying as the “wanting.” I have seen the same dynamic operate with people seeking jobs, ministries, education, etc. God did in fact give the people what they wanted; but after they got it, decided they didn’t really like it very much after all. In short, trust God; if He closes a door, think carefully before you start pounding on it again. God may open that door, but you may not really like what is behind it.

Yet, having said the above, if you are committed to the glory of God, and if you do have a sober self-evaluation, and if you have sought godly counsel; then if your heart desires something, go for it. (Ecc 11:9ff) God is not a cosmic killjoy. Every good gift comes from Him (Jas. 1:17). Do not worry that if you give yourself over to God you will have to marry an ugly girl with glasses and become a missionary to the pygmies or something. A man who wants the glory of God, who seeks to advance His Kingdom, will find work that is rewarding, personally significant, AND economically profitable because he already has found his real place in the world. And because God already has your heart, He can then entrust you with all the other blessings that come from a sanctified life; work that is meaningful, fulfilling relationships, and prosperity that you can enjoy.

Now, when times get tough, when adverse circumstances arise you can be comforted that they are either examples of not finding wisdom in a given situation or as opportunities for growth, character development, and further service (Jas. 1:2). If you are seeking wisdom, and made a bad decision, you can learn from the mistake and not duplicate it again in the future. God in His wisdom does allow us at times to make mistakes as a teaching exercise; just as we let our kids make some mistakes to reinforce some important principle. Furthermore, sometimes God allows bad things to happen because He is working on our character. If God allows you to be afflicted in some way, but you did make the “right” decision, then you can rejoice that you share “the sufferings of Christ.”

Remember, the real issue in decision-making is never, "What does the Lord want me to do?" for this has already been settled in the Bible. The real question is, "Am I willing to do what is necessary to "discover God’s commandments, statutes and principles and then change my life accordingly?" Answer that one correctly my friend, and God will unleash His storehouse, and prosper your labors.

Conclusion: Wise decision-making is crucial to our prosperity. Wealth does not just “fall from above” but results from maximizing our resources through optimal decisions.

Proverbs for Further Consideration;

15:22 “Without consultation, plans are frustrated but with many counselors they succeed.”

14:15 “The naive believes everything but the prudent man considers his steps.

16:18 “Pride goes before destruction and a haughty spirit before stumbling.”