A farmer hired a man to work for him. He told him his first task would be to paint the barn and said it should take him about three days to complete. But the hired man was finished in one day. The farmer set him to cutting wood, telling him it would require about 4 days. The hired man finished in a day and a half, to the farmer’s amazement. The next task was to sort out a large pile of potatoes. He was to arrange them into three piles: seed potatoes, food for the hogs, and potatoes that were good enough to sell. The farmer said it was a small job and shouldn’t take long at all. At the end of the day, the farmer came back and found the hired man had barely started. “What’s the matter here,” the farmer asked. “I can work hard, but I can’t make decisions!”¹ In today’s blog post, we are going to look into the issue of decision making and how decisiveness can help us in our everyday lives.

[Tweet “It’s can be painfulto make a choice for something that’s better in the place of something that’s good.”]

The Choice to Live in Decisiveness

• Today we are going to talk about the habit of decisiveness.
• Decisiveness is the opposite of procrastination.

Matthew 5:27–30 (NKJV) — 27 “You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ 28 But I say to you that whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart. 29 If your right eye causes you to sin, pluck it out and cast it from you; for it is more profitable for you that one of your members perish, than for your whole body to be cast into hell. 30 And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and cast it from you; for it is more profitable for you that one of your members perish, than for your whole body to be cast into hell.

• What do these verses have to do with decisiveness?
• On July 20, 1993, while cutting down oaks in a Pennsylvania forest, Don Wyman got his leg pinned beneath a fallen tree. No one could hear his yells for help. After digging for more than an hour to try to free his bleeding, shattered leg, he hit stone. He would bleed to death unless he did something drastic. Wyman made his decision. Using a wrench and the starter cord from his chainsaw as a tourniquet, he cut off the flow of blood to his shin. Somehow he had the fortitude to amputate his own leg below the knee with his pocket knife. He crawled to his vehicle and drove to a farmer’s home. The farmer got him the help that saved his life.
• On a hillside in Galilee, Jesus makes the statement, “If your right hand offends you, cut it off.”
• You know cutting something off is decisiveness just ask Don Wyman.

What Jesus Said about Decisiveness

• Jesus made this Sermon on the Mount statement right in the midst of an entire list of corrections He made to concepts that people had heard from their teachers under the law.
• Jesus said to his disciples, “You’ve heard that committing adultery is bad.”
• “I’m here to tell you there is something worse, looking at a woman with lust.”
• Jesus went on to say, “You’ve heard this also, divorce is totally up to you and you can engage in it anytime you want.”
• “But, here’s a better thought, Unless there is fornication involved it’s not a good thing.”
• Jesus continued with His list of corrections to Jewish interpretation of the law.
• “You’ve heard this taught, do the things that you have sworn to do.”
• “Here’s a better thought how about not swearing at all.”
• “An eye for an eye a tooth for a tooth?”
• “Oh no”, Jesus said, “instead go the extra mile with people.”
• And here is the crown of Jewish thought; “love your neighbor and hate your enemy.”
• To which Jesus spoke up and declared, “Here’s a better God thought for you. Love your enemies, do good to those that hate you and pray for them which despitefully use you.”
• Right in the midst of these corrective statements, Jesus says if your right hand offends you, practice decisiveness in dealing with the offense.
• Teddy Roosevelt said this:

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.
• So what was Jesus saying about these Jewish interpretations that they thought was ‘doing good’ and honoring God?
• What He said was that…
  • It might feel good to your flesh to divorce your wife for any reason but it’s much better to make a decision to live with her forever.
  • It might feel good to your flesh to hate your enemy but it’s much better to pray for them and do them good when you can.
  • It might feel good to let your ‘hand’ lead you into sin but it is much better to make the decision to cut it off.
• So, the art of decisiveness is part of the process of turning better into best.
• But, it’s a choice.
• You have to choose to live the best.
• By this graphic ‘cutting off the hand’ statement, Jesus teaches that real decisiveness is not for the weak at heart.
• If you want the best, if you want the will of God, if you want to live a highly effective spiritual life,  you’re going to have to make up your mind to make better choices.
• Because, if you don’t make up your mind, your unmade mind will unmake you.

Being Decisive about the Millstone Business

• Jesus made this ‘cut off your hand’ statement more than one time.
• Thirteen months later after the transfiguration, in Caesarea Philippi on an elevated mountain, the disciples asked Jesus who was the greatest in the kingdom of God.
• To answer the question, Jesus sets a child in the midst and declares, “Whoever becomes like this little child, that is, dependent, innocent, trusting, and vulnerable is the greatest in God’s kingdom.
• You have to turn in your adult human independence for God trusting childlike dependence.
• That is the ticket to greatness.
• Special protection is awarded to the childlike truster of God.
• Jesus warned the entire human population on planet earth on this very point.

Matthew 18:6 (NKJV) — 6 “Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to sin, it would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck, and he were drowned in the depth of the sea.

• So, offending a childlike Jesus believer is not a good move.
• Being on the wrong end of a “Woe unto you” is definitely not where you want to be.
• How are you going to avoid it?
• Do you desire to know?

Matthew 18:8–9 (NKJV) — 8 “If your hand or foot causes you to sin, cut it off and cast it from you. It is better for you to enter into life lame or maimed, rather than having two hands or two feet, to be cast into the everlasting fire. 9 And if your eye causes you to sin, pluck it out and cast it from you. It is better for you to enter into life with one eye, rather than having two eyes, to be cast into hell fire.

• Jesus is warning planet earth to practice decisiveness and make a radical decision to not offend one of these little ones who believe in Him.

Call to Action:

You can have a life that is bigger than you could have imagined. But, you have to choose it. You have to choose life. You have to practice the fine art of decisiveness concerning the commandments and admonitions of the Word of God.

Question: What kind of radical decisiveness have you practiced in your walk with God? Please encourage someone by sharing your story in the comments section below.

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