Choicesਨਮੂਨਾ

Wasn’t Me!

How many times have we made a choice, but when it turns out to be the wrong choice, we immediately blame someone else for it? If you’re like me, you have both hands raised. I admit it—I blamed everyone for the dumb things I did when I was younger. My favorite statement was “It wasn’t me!” Then I would weave a tale so poetically fantastic that I should have won an Oscar as I attempted to prove it wasn’t me. The problem with that decision-making technique is that the truth always comes out. Then I would be in twice as much trouble as if I had just owned it in the first place. Thankfully, as I grew in my faith as a believer and learned in John 8:31-32 (NKJV), “Then Jesus said to those Jews who believed Him, ‘If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed. And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” I discovered that staying rooted and grounded in the Word of Truth helps me to make better choices because I have a better sense of what is good and right for my life. Don’t get me wrong, I am in no way perfect; I still make mistakes, and not all of them end with me making the right choice. But the truth is always at the forefront of my decision-making, and I repent for the ones I miss and keep moving forward toward the plan God has for me. Paul said it best in Philippians 3:12-14 (NKJV): “Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected; but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me. Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.”

Everyone makes mistakes. The question is, how do you react to a bad choice? The answer is quite simple: acknowledge you missed it, always repent, thank God for his forgiveness, and make it right if you can. Learn from it, put it in the past, and, finally, keep moving forward. The best way to minimize wrong decision-making is by maintaining a close, intimate relationship with God through His Word.