What should I wear today? What should I have for lunch? Should I check Facebook, Instagram, or my email first? Decisions, decisions—there is a never-ending list of them.
According to researchers, the average adult makes approximately 35,000 decisions per day (“The average adult makes 35,000 decisions a day: Here’s how to avoid ‘choice overload,’ from the authors of ‘Out of Your Mind’,” CNBC.com, February 20, 2025). This staggering volume contributes to what psychologists call decision fatigue—the mental drain that comes from constant choice-making. It’s why routines, habits, and mental disciplines can be so powerful: They reduce the cognitive load and anchor us in intentionality.
Our choices define who we are. As people to whom God has given His precious calling, we must decide to be faithful in little things as well as big ones. Remember the parable of the minas in Luke 19—each servant had to decide what to do with what his master had given him. One made a decision that led to failure, while another won his master’s approval and rulership over ten cities.
Those servants made choices that would shape their future. And, for us, our values and priorities are what determine the choices we make today—and the consequences we will reap tomorrow. Even the smallest decision has the possibility of moving us closer to or further away from our Savior. We should never fail to ask ourselves, Will this decision bring me closer to being the person God has called me to be? A pattern of decisions grounded in God’s truth will shape our character for the better.
Decisions Establish a Pattern
Wise King Solomon gave this invaluable advice: “Ponder the path of your feet, and let all your ways be established. Do not turn to the right or the left; remove your foot from evil” (Proverbs 4:26–27). The more we establish a pattern of living rightly, the less we will find ourselves tempted to follow a path that will turn us away from God.
And we are not alone. God has given us His Holy Spirit to guide us. Throughout our trials and daily decisions, we have a Comforter and a Helper—the very power of God. At first, we may decide to follow God’s lead simply out of our desire to be obedient and honor His commandments, despite our temptations to do otherwise. But as we consistently practice this obedience the Spirit begins to reshape our desires, aligning our will with the will of our Father and our Savior. This ongoing transformation is what Scripture refers to as conversion. Even as our bodies grow older and more fragile, the Spirit works within us. “Therefore we do not lose heart. Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day” (2 Corinthians 4:16).
The more we are renewed inwardly, the more we genuinely desire what God desires and become able to decide as God would have us decide. As we grow, and as we come to more fully reflect God’s character, delighting in His ways, our Spirit-led decisions will increasingly bear visible fruit in our lives—the unmistakable evidence of God’s Spirit actively working within us. What is that fruit? The Apostle Paul tells us that “the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law. And those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit” (Galatians 5:22–25). If we are Christ’s, we are His branches and will bear much fruit (John 15:5).
Even our salvation is a decision—not a mandate. Once we have repented, been baptized, and received God’s Holy Spirit, perfection isn’t a state we reach instantly—it is a destination we travel toward with the decisions we make day by day. Solomon reminds us that “the path of the just is like the shining sun, that shines ever brighter unto the perfect day. The way of the wicked is like darkness; they do not know what makes them stumble” (Proverbs 4:18–19).
Decisions Bring Consequences
We need only look at Adam and Eve to see the tragic consequences of loving the wrong things and making the wrong decisions as a result. How can we avoid making such mistakes? Notice that one of the fruits of the Spirit is self-control. We must decide to rise above any circumstances that tempt us to walk the wrong path. Just think about the daily aggravations you face. Someone at the store cuts in front of you in a line. Someone at work is rude or unkind to you. A driver swerves in front of you on the road. A customer service representative treats you poorly. Maybe there’s even someone in your local congregation who irritates you to no end.
But to the degree that someone else “makes us” feel angry or upset, that person is the one in control of our lives! And when we have given away that control to someone else, we are no longer exercising self-control. This one fruit is arguably the key that unlocks all the other fruits of the Spirit—without it, we are unable to make the decisions that will lead not just to practical control over our lives, but to the spiritual growth God expects from us. Of course, Scripture does tell us to “be submissive to one another” (1 Peter 5:5). But this command is about service, humility, and the exercise of self-control—not an excuse to blame others for our actions or attitudes.
Self-control is the power to control our tendencies, inclinations, and reactions to what others say and do. Someone else may have said or done something objectively awful, but our mood is our decision—if we have self-control. Without self-control, we are giving up our heart and our peace of mind to others—and then blaming them for a decision that we have made.
The evangelist Timothy received guidance from his mentor, Paul, to “exercise yourself toward godliness” (1 Timothy 4:7)—to bear the fruits of God’s Spirit. The Greek word for “exercise” here, gymnaze—the source of our English word “gymnasium”—conveys the image of rigorous athletic discipline, underscoring the intentional and daily commitment needed to grow in spiritual maturity. Paul urged Timothy to cultivate godly character through consistent practice, not just passive belief.
In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus taught His audience to choose the first fruit of God’s Spirit, which is love! He told us to love our enemies, bless those who curse us, do good to those who hate us, and pray for those who spitefully use and persecute us. Then He gave the rationale behind such a decision: “that you may be sons of your Father in heaven; for He makes His sun rise on the evil and the good and sends rain on the just and on the unjust” (Matthew 5:44–45).
Yes, God decides to power the sun and send the rain. Those are His decisions, and He makes them because of His nature. Our choices, too, come from our nature—so, have we decided to improve the nature of our heart? Christ told us to pray for our enemies—so, the degree to which we do so is a decision we make and a reflection of our Christian maturity.
Decisions Train Us
How easy it can be to go about our days on “automatic pilot” without giving prayerful thought to our decisions. But as Christians we must be “bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ” (2 Corinthians 10:5). Self-control is not just reactive (refusing to give in to temptation)—it is proactive training (shaping our lives toward eternal goals). It’s a rhythm of chosen discipline, rooted in love, purpose, and hope (Proverbs 25:28). It’s a conscious act of asking ourselves, What are my choices as I face this decision? What are the consequences?
Rather than feel trapped by circumstances or other people’s behavior, we can decide to take ownership of our responses, to choose the path that aligns our values with God’s. And how do we know God’s values? Through His word, the Bible, which is a master class in personal responsibility and the transformative power of conscious decision-making. It reminds us that we are not doomed to be only victims of circumstance, but are active agents who shape our world, with the help of God’s power in us, through our decisions.
God has given us many decisions to make, but they all boil down to a choice between two contrasting ways of life. “I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life, that both you and your descendants may live” (Deuteronomy 30:19).
What happens to those who decide to go the wrong way? “Because they hated knowledge and did not choose the fear of the Lord, they would have none of my counsel and despised my every rebuke. Therefore they shall eat the fruit of their own way, and be filled to the full with their own fancies” (Proverbs 1:29–31). Wise King Solomon here was writing about people who could have chosen reverence for God, but they did not.
Like those of whom Solomon wrote, we too eat the “fruit” of our own decisions. Our choices ripen into consequences. This is why Paul tells us to decide to walk “circumspectly, not as fools but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil” (Ephesians 5:15–16). We must make our decisions consciously and thoughtfully, living each day with care and self-control—and doing so requires both the knowledge of God’s truth and the daily practice of choosing to walk in that truth.
Whatever is most important to us will guide the decisions we make, and those decisions will shape our destiny. So, as faithful Christians, let us decide to be diligent in our prayer, our Bible study, our meditation, and our periodic fasting. The more we do so, the more confident we can be that we will make the right decisions.