Proverbs 15:24

You have made and will make many decisions today. Each choice either directs your life upward toward favor with God now and later, or toward destruction now and an eternity in hell. Wise men make decisions carefully with the earthly and eternal consequences in mind in order to avoid trouble and God’s displeasure and to find His favor and blessing.

The choices men make each day determine the success or failure of their lives in this world and in the one to come. Most are too proud to consider their ways, for they assume they are right. Others are too lazy, so they continue playing with their toys. Some do not care, blind to the consequences. Others follow the majority. Some follow their feelings.

But all those criteria for decision-making are foolish! Pride will certainly bring pain and trouble (Pr 16:18; 18:12). Slothfulness is the mark of a fool (Pr 18:1-2). Carelessness also marks fools (Pr 1:22; 17:16). The majority is always wrong (Eph 2:1-3; Matt 7:13-14; Ex 23:2). Above all else, do not follow your deceitful heart (Pr 14:12; 16:25; Jer 17:9).

Consider your ways. Examine yourself. Beg God to help you (Ps 139:23-24). How do you choose and decide what to do and what not to do? Is the word of God your guide? Or do you follow your feelings, the fads of the world, or some other foolish influence? A wise man does not let life happen to him, he directs himself upward toward God and life.

Do not lie against the truth. Do not glory in your choices, just because you have followed them for a long time. If you are living contrary to God’s word, you are following earthly, sensual, and devilish wisdom (Jas 3:14-16). It will lead to your confusion and every evil work now, and it will result in facing an angry God in the Day of Judgment soon.

Do not sacrifice your future on the altar of the present by forgetting or neglecting to examine your choices and decisions. Wisdom is the power of right judgment – the ability to know what to do in any given situation, and you can grow mightily in such wisdom through fearing God, reading His word, and prayer (Pr 1:7; 9:10; Ps 19:7; Jas 1:5).

Christian reader, it is your privilege and duty to set your mind on heavenly things, rather than on the earthly things of this short life (Col 3:1-4; Rom 8:4-8). The consequences are great. Spiritual thinking leads to life; worldly thinking leads to death. Instead of being a belly worshipper, follow the Spirit of God and move upward (Rom 8:9-13; Phil 3:17-20).