I am your constant companion. I am your greatest helper or your heaviest burden. I will push you onward or drag you down to failure. I am completely at your command. Half of the things you do you might as well turn them over to me and I will be able to do them quickly and correctly. I am easily managed – you must merely be firm with me. Show me exactly how you want something done and after a few lessons I will do them automatically. I am a servant of all great men; and alas, of all failures as well. Those who are great, I have made great. Those who are failures, I have made failures. I am not a machine, though I work with the precision of a machine plus the intelligence of a man. You may run me for profit or run me for ruin – it makes no difference to me. Take me, train me, be firm with me, and I will place the world at your feet. Be easy with me and I will destroy you. Who am I? I am a habit! Today, we are going to talk about the habit of decisiveness.
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Episode Notes
Matthew 5:27–30 (KJV)
27 Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not commit adultery: 28 But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart. 29 And if thy right eye offend thee, pluck it out, and cast it from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell. 30 And if thy right hand offend thee, cut it off, and cast it from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell.
- What do these verses have to do with decisions?
- Jesus said: “If your right hand offends you, cut it off”
- Cutting something off is decisiveness!
- Sin areas should not be negotiated with but cut-off
QUOTE: Teddy Roosevelt
“In any moment of decision the best thing you can do is the right thing, the next best thing you can do is the wrong thing, and the worst thing you can do is nothing.”
- It’s painful to make a choice for something that’s better in the place of something that’s good.
- The art of decision making is part of the process of turning the better in for the best.
- You have to choose to live the best.
- If you don’t make up your mind, your unmade mind will unmake you.
- This is not the only time Jesus made this ‘cut off your hand’ statement – 13 months later after the transfiguration, in Caesarea Philippi, on an elevated mountain like town – the disciples ask Jesus who is the greatest in the kingdom of God?
- What is Jesus saying about offending little children who believe in Him?
- He is saying – make a radical ‘cut off the hand’ decision to not offend one of these little ones.
- There are many other places in the Bible where men are called to decide or make decisions.
Josh. 24:15 (NLT)
15 But if you are unwilling to serve the LORD, then choose today whom you will serve. Would you prefer the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates? Or will it be the gods of the Amorites in whose land you now live? But as for me and my family, we will serve the LORD.”
- Joshua was old and stricken in age and was still making a choice
- You’re never too old to decide and a decision of quality
Quality Decisions
- What is a decision of quality?
- A quality decision is one from which there is no turning back.
- Quality decisions should be made with adequate time.
- “Until death do you part” decisions should not be made with haste.
- A quality decision is no turning back!
ILLUSTRATION: Polycarp Made A Decision.
The year was A.D. 155, and the persecution against Christians swept across the Roman Empire and came to the city of Smyrna. The proconsul of Symrna, swept up in this persecution, put out an order that the Bishop of Symrna, Polycarp, was to be found, arrested, and brought to the public arena for execution. They found Polycarp and brought him before thousands of spectators screaming for blood. But the proconsul had compassion on this man who was almost a hundred years old. He signaled the crowd to silence. To Polycarp he said, “Curse the Christ and live.” The crowd waited for the old man to answer.
- Making a decision to die is easier than laying your living life down here every day.
- Dying is easy – living is the trick!
- You are never too old to make a decision
- You do not want to be an accident – you want to be an ‘on purpose’.
- Hear Jesus on this out of the Amplified version of the Bible.
Matthew 10:38 (AMP)
38 “And he who does not take up his cross and follow me [cleave steadfastly to Me, conforming wholly to my example in living and, if need be, in dying also] is not worthy of Me. Whoever finds his lower life will lose the higher life], and whoever loses his lower life on My account will find the higher life.
You need to make decisions of quality because if you don’t, the only good that you will do will be by accident.
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Question: Describe a quality decision you made where the Lord was concerned. How did it impact or transform your life?
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