Decision Making The Lord's Way ~ Part One

Good Morning, Good Afternoon, Good Evening,

this post should take four to six minutes to read from start to finish.

This post focuses on May 2009 BYU - Hawaii Devotional and it is called; "Decision Making The Lord's Way" by Steven C. Wheelwright. He was the president of BYU Hawaii at the time, this post is part one and I would like to share with you some highlights while I was reading the devotional. I hope you will learn something new while you are reading throughout this post. 

"Following the Lord's process of decision making results in consistently and powerfully righteous decisions. And that pattern of
righteous decision making in turn develops our character." 

President Wheelwright mentioned the following; "... Elder Robert D. Hales said, “Our use of agency determines who we are and what we will be.” While agency is a powerful, eternal principle, our approach to decision making can be considered its mortal embodiment. Agency, the ability to make our own decisions, is a great blessing bestowed by a loving Heavenly Father on all His sons and daughters. In 2 Nephi we read: "Therefore, cheer up your hearts, and remember that ye are free to act for yourselves - to choose the way of everlasting death or the way of eternal life." Choice is inevitably accompanied by opposing forces. Opposition is, in fact, the very essence of choice. Today I’d like to focus my remarks on ... processes of righteous decision making.

“The Valley of Decision”

... Most of you have already made the wise decision to further your education, but you may now be choosing what to study, what classes to take, and what career path to pursue. You may have had your roommates assigned to you, but you have the choice of whom to spend time with and how to spend your time. Hopefully you young men are considering serving a mission, or, if you have already served, you are choosing to maintain the righteous habits you acquired on your mission.

And I suspect more than a few of you are deciding whom to date and even whom to marry and when. The list of decisions you each face goes on and on. ... If you learn to make decisions according to the Lord’s process, you will form one of the habits most critical to both your earthly and your eternal success.

The Process of Making Decisions

... When we are presented with a choice, our perspective and our attitude combine to largely determine the course of action we will pursue - or, in other words, the decision we will make. ... making decisions the Lord’s way versus making decisions the world’s way. We’ll begin with a closer examination of the world’s way. Let’s use the example of choosing a career path as our choice or decision to be made and assume two possible outcomes, option A and option B. The world’s perspective on such a significant decision would certainly consider... potential for prestige and power, and ease of acquisition. And a worldly attitude might include such things as self-centeredness, a sense of entitlement, and even political correctness as major factors in choosing between options A or B.

Working together, the influences of perspective and attitude will largely determine the decision we make or, in this example, which career path we choose. The result of following the world’s process of decision making in selecting a career would greatly favor certain professions over others. In contrast, let’s now take a closer look at making decisions the Lord’s way. We’ll begin with the same choice of which career path to follow, but, since we know that all things are spiritual to the Lord, we’ll consider a spiritual perspective and a spiritual attitude in this process.

A spiritual perspective would, first and foremost, consider eternity, ... and it would allow for a quality journey. ... For example, opportunities to provide service to others, to strengthen one’s family, and to spend meaningful time in Church callings would all be considered in the Lord’s process. When a spiritual perspective and a spiritual attitude are factored into a major decision, such as the choice of a career, the resulting action might well be quite different than that resulting from following a worldly decision-making process.

Now, let’s superimpose one of my favorite scriptures over this decision-making process. Proverbs 3:5–6 reads: Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths. Using this scripture, we can subtitle the world’s approach to decision making “leaning to thine own understanding.”

Our own understanding is imperfect. We cannot see the future, nor can we see our ultimate potential, but when we follow the world’s process, we rely on that understanding anyway. Similarly, using this scripture, we can subtitle the Lord’s approach to decision making “trusting in the Lord.” The Lord does see the future, and only He knows our divine potential - thus this approach requires trusting the Lord. 

C. S. Lewis described this great truth when he likened our lives to a house undergoing renovations: At first, perhaps, you can understand what [God] is doing. ... Therein lies the key reason we need to make decisions by following the Lord’s process: He is building a palace far beyond our wildest plans. ... Left to our own understanding, we are unintentionally false and unsteady. But through trusting in the Lord with humility, gratitude, and faith, we are blessed and we prosper. If we trust in the Lord and acknowledge Him, not only will He “direct [our] paths,” but He will also ensure that “then shalt thou walk in thy way safely, and thy foot shall not stumble,” and that “her ways are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace.”

Stay Tuned until next time.