Decide, and stick with it!

People who succeed in life set their priorities early and maintain them daily. That way they don’t have to keep re-establishing them. That’s a good idea for two reasons: (1) It takes the emotion out of it. If you’re not careful, you can make a life-altering decision based on a temporary situation rather than God’s will. Or worse, base your decisions on your feelings! By establishing your life’s priorities before you have to, you can do it without your emotions manipulating and controlling you. Plus, you’re more likely to set them with integrity. Joshua did that: “As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.” (2) It makes managing your life easier. Once you nail down what’s important to you, you can live based on those principles. Let’s say you’re a compulsive gambler and you decide to quit. Your task then becomes ordering your life in light of that decision. That probably means not hanging out at the racetrack or vacationing on the strip in Las Vegas. Or say you want to build a better marriage: that may mean spending less time at work or on the golf course and planning a weekly date night with your spouse. It takes honesty, born in prayer, to know what your real issues are and to make good decisions accordingly. And it takes character and perseverance to follow through once those decisions are made. The great thing is that once you decide, then “commit your actions to the Lord, and your plans will succeed” (Proverbs 16:3 NLT). He will give you the strength each day to live by your decisions.