"Consequences"

"God gives us the power to make choices but not to choose consequences"

Perhaps one might look at it this way.  Even though outcomes cannot be guaranteed, make choices with outcomes in mind.  As one prominent writer-speaker teaches, "Begin with the end in mind."

Another point to consider when making choices is this.  One cannot compound poor choices with poor choices and expect that good will come.  At some point the cycle of poor choices must be broken in order to disrupt the poor outcomes.

Poor outcomes that occasion further poor choices will only lead one in a downward spiral.  More than one pilot has made poor decisions to the point that he cannot recover his airplane and the outcome is an air incident.  Often with loss of life.  Almost all of those incidents would not have happened had correct choices been made early on in the progress of the incident.  So too with decisions, early correct choices avert dire outcomes!

So it is with life.  Poor choices beget poor choices and the outcome is dire.  It is therefore incumbent upon those who make choices (that would be all of us) to make wise choices.

Decision-making is not done in a vacuum but in one's community, that is those in one's small corner of the world.  That being so, one's decisions effect others either directly or tacitly.  Just in terms of the otherness of our lives we do well to exercise great caution in our decision-making for even our personal and private decisions often touch the lives of those around us.  Consider as well that those decisions are not without eternal consequences.

First and foremost it is wise to spend time in prayer and in doing so consult with the Heavenly Father.  More than once disaster has been averted when someone commits to praying his way through such decisions as are to be made and then in that same attitude of prayer, prays through possible outcomes.  

Still we might question, "How can we know that our choices are wise?"  There are a number of other ways that center around one.  The major task in any decision, great or small is for one to line up one's choices with the Bible.  Remember, God lives outside of time and space as we know it.  Thus He sees every moment of every person's life in the present.  That would include the present as Scripture was being written.

Therefore we can comfortably say, "God had every moment of your life in mind when He inspired the writing of His Word, the Bible." Thus we have the transcendent, unchanging, powerful Word of the Lord.

That Bible then is the center around which we find other ways to enhance our decision-making.  It is as we seek wise counsel of others, as we look carefully at situations and circumstances, as we look carefully at other authorities in our lives such as pastors, employers, etc., as we consider the words of faithful friends, that we find counsel that enhances our decision-making.

No one makes perfect decisions every time and so one must be willing to pull back from a decision, change course, and move forward.  That is exactly the way in which one breaks the poor decision cycle and moves in a right and correct decision.

It is, in most cases, not a major "earth shaking" decision but a small one that charts our course.  So it is that to change the course of one's life requires not some monumental decisions but a small quiet decision that leads to another small quiet decision and before long one will see change take place.