Every day we are inundated with decisions. Some of our choices seem inconsequential: what we eat for breakfast or how we spend the weekend. Others carry greater significance: whether to marry or remain single or what career path to follow. In her Spotlight presentation Dr. Jeanene Reese will help us examine our assumptions about decision-making, challenge us to explore how we make decisions, consider how we gain expertise in making good decisions, and encourage us to reflect on how the will of God fits into the whole process.
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Required Readings
Read the following article and book review presenting different views of God’s will:
- Jerry Sittser, The Will of God as a Way of Life (*MyACU login required)
- Decision Making and the Will of God
Join the Conversation
If you have a question for this week’s speaker or would like to share a conclusion of your own, please post it as a comment below. We welcome off-campus voices to the public Cornerstone dialogue as long as they are respectful and contribute meaningfully to these curricular discussions. See the ACU Blogs Terms of Use or About Cornerstone for more information.
Spotlight Resources
BIOGRAPHY
Dr. Jeanene Reese is an associate professor in Bible, Missions & Ministry, director of the Center for Women in Christian Service, and author of Bound and Determined: Christian Men and Women in Partnership (2010).
13 responses to “Decisions, Decisions, Decisions”
I am in full support of the second article. I am a firm believer that God has a plan for my life but there is so much to be said for taking our lives and making decisions based on our own understanding without leaning on it. There have been countless times where God’s direction and intent for my life have been crystal clear but other times I had to make well informed decisions based on biblical truth and my own experience. What is referred to as the “traditional” view seems to be something I could not 100% agree with.
I think that it is very important that we don’t use God as a crutch, but that we still let Him influence our lives. We can do that by making our lives a living reflection of His Word trying to love like Jesus did. What is very important is that we do live out our lives and let the personalities and quirks He put in us come out. We can’t always see what we are supposed to be doing, and so we need to just learn to live blindly by faith. Faith isn’t always just a boost of energy to help you climb a mountain. It is usually something you hold inside of yourself to help you climb out of a pitch-black tunnel, but you can’t let that hold you back. Just live and breathe God’s glory in every day things that make you happy. People will see that difference and want to follow.
If forced to choose between one view and the other, I would choose the second book by Willard to agree with. I believe that the Lord has His hand in all of his followers’ lives, and I believe that sometimes He does leave it up to us to choose. I also believe that, unlike what Friesen explains, there is nothing that we do or have to do for the Lord to reveal His will to us, other than trust in Him. Just like our salvation does not depend on us, neither does the will of God. On the other hand, I do think that decision making and how it is involved with the will of God is still somewhat of a mystery to me, and I can’t say that I completely disagree or agree with either side, simply because I do not believe I know enough about the subject.
I believe that God wants a personal relationship with each and every one of us; he wants us to trust him so much that we tell him our thoughts, fears, and anxieties. As human beings, it is normal for us to have anxieties about the future, and it is part of God’s will for us to share these things with him in order for us to develop a trusting relationship with him. Because we are by nature sinners, I do not completely agree with Friesen, who sees that God’s will is mainly about the difference between right and wrong, in more of a black and white perspective. When struggling to decide whether to go to college in Nebraska or Texas, I considered what would happen if I made the wrong decision, one that was not part of God’s will for me. After praying and asking God to help me decide, I made my decision with confidence. I began to believe that whatever path I chose was right because God would always be walking alongside me, whether good times or bad. For this reason, I think Friesen may be missing the bigger picture.
I think that God has a plan and will for every believer’s life. As our relationship with Him grows the more options we have. The Lord lets us have free will to choose and make our own decisions. When we fall, He is there to pick us up so that we can continue on with life’s journey. I think that it is important to have a personal relationship with the Lord, because He will help you with your decision making. Than you don’t have to question every circumstance or decision that you have to make. If you know, who you are in Christ, when disaster comes you will know how to stand up under it.
Just thinking about the both of these articles I would have to saw that I agree with the second one more so than the first. Only because I believe in the fact that God’s will is whatever he desires and he will do anything that he needs to do inorder to keep us a lined with our path for life. Then we can decide for ourselves what to do with the time he gives us, where he isn’t telling us what to do. On the other hand I also believe that all we have to do is trust him and he will provide for us. So I’m in the middle of the two.
I believe the choices given mesh together. I do believe that God has a plan for me 100%. But I also believe what we do in this life is all based on the choices we make. God gave us free will. I know there have been times in my life where I felt God calling me to something and I chose not to follow that calling and vice versa.
Everyday we have choices to make, and each day is a new path that is created by those decisions. I believe if we allow God will influence our decisions we will have a great outcome.
I believe that God has a plan for us we just dont 100% know what it is. As much as we want to believe that we are living the life that God has put out for us sometimes we aren’t. i mean sometimes we go down the path we think we should when in reality we are wandering down the wrong path and God sent us down it to make us realize that no matter how much we want that path to be our life – it cant be. That path isn’t ours because “He” plans for us to do something else; He just takes the long way to do it so that when we discover our true path it is that much more special.
I really understand the way dr. reese talked about decisions because through life we all have to come across decision even when things don’t seem very right. Life is based around making choices. Sometimes they may not be the best option for us but we still do them to learn from the things we have done and as you get older you have to make wiser decisions and make sure they are God’s plan. d.brown
God has a plan for each and every one of us. He knows exactly what will happen throughout every moment of our lives. He gives us free will so that we can have the privledge of learning right from wrong. Also so that we can know what it’s like to hit rock bottom so we can pick ourselves up and learn from our experiences and create a stronger relationship with Him.
WE are faced with decisions everyday, whether to go to class or not , or to go to church or not . It shapes who we are.But God Gave us a choice to make whatever decision we want but they all come with a consequence or a price.
decision, for me, it seemed like there are right decision and wrong decision. but i believe that every decisions are come from god, and every decisions are good for us because god knows everything. we can trust him, listen to him, and make decision. any decision can be helpful for our life because he made us make decision. everything is with his power.
For me, making decision is not from God. I think making decision is s thing we have to do my ourselves. Even if i sometimes could not decide well, finally i have to do it by myself.