WISE PATH: 8 Filters for Making Wise Decisions

Decisions determine destiny.

“Obey God and leave all the consequences to him” Charles Stanley

“How important it is to ascertain the will of God, before we undertake anything, because we are then not only blessed in our own souls, but also the work of our hands will prosper.” George Muller

You are where you are today because of the decisions you’ve made in the past. The choices you are making today will determine where you will be tomorrow. People’s decisions created the world you see around you. To say that learning to make wise decisions is very important would be an understatement. It’s priceless. Your very life, calling, leadership, success, and fulfillment in life all depend on the decisions you make.

HOW TO MAKE WISE DECISIONS

How does one make wise decisions?

Great decisions are made with filters. Decision-making filters have specific ingredients such as values, facts, and submission to the truth in the context of one’s values, and others. Successful companies have a purpose, mission, vision, and core values and make values-based decisions that align with their purpose, mission, and core values. That helps such companies progress towards achieving their vision. Decision making for individuals is not much different.

For over a decade now, I’ve had the privilege to make many difficult decisions and coach leaders in various types of industries who are faced with tough choices. Whether I am facing my own difficult decisions or coaching and mentoring leaders who are making tough decisions, I use my ABCDE decision-making model or ABCDE problem-solving model to analyze the situation, brainstorm options, Choose the best option, Do it, and Evaluate.

The eight filters I share below are questions I teach them to ask themselves to help them ensure that each option and their decision aligns with who they are at the core. The questions are not designed to be asked sequentially, but to be addressed together during the decision-making process. I call this, the WISE PATH for making decisions. WISE PATH is an acronym I created to help people remember these questions when they need them.

WISE PATH is not a decision-making framework but a set of filters that form the foundation for making wise decisions. For a decision-making framework, see my ABCDE model.

Related Article: Decision-Making and Strategy.

People don’t make decisions based on the facts alone. You’ve probably read or heard of research that shows that people buy things based on their emotions and justify them with logic. There is a lot of truth to that. Humans don’t make decisions merely based on the facts. And I think if we could, we shouldn’t make decisions based solely on facts. Facts are crucial but we need to consider something more. We humans are not simply mental beings. We are spiritual, mental, emotional, and social beings as well. I have discovered that people who make wise decisions take the facts very seriously, but they also add spiritual, emotional, and social considerations as well. Because of that foundational truth, the following articled based on my acrostic, WISE PATH, incorporates concepts from the pure sciences, the social sciences, and spirituality to help people make decisions that are not only right but wise. Wisdom rises above being right or wrong. When you make a wise decision, you won’t only be right today but you will be right tomorrow. Wise decisions help you find fulfillment and meaning in life. They are right for you but also honor the rest of creation.

8 FILTERS FOR MAKING WISE DECISIONS

1. Word of love (or Way of Love)
2. Information (int. & ext.).
3. Surrendered, humble heart/will.
4. Evaluate options
5. Providential circumstances.
6. Advisers and Authorities
7. Talents
8. Heart Harmony (Holy Spirit Peace)

 

1. Word of love (or Way of Love)

God is love, God is life, and God is light.

“The most important [commandment] is, ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these” (Jesus Christ in Mark 12:29-31 ESV ).

“Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path” Psalm 119:105

Ancient religious leaders from every major religion have told us for centuries that the key to the good life is love. They told us over and over again that loving relationships and having a heart of gratitude and service for our fellow human beings was the way to live the fullest life. Jesus Christ spoke of his life purpose saying, “I came so that everyone would have life, and have it in its fullest” (John 10:10 CEV). Jesus believed that the path to life to the fullest love. Specifically, to love God and love other people. Jesus said that “’Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these” (Jesus Christ in Mark 12:29-31 ESV ).

Jesus and his disciples taught that this love shows up in the way we live and treat each other. In fact, Jesus was so serious about love that he said that was the identifying mark of his followers. At the end of his earthly life, he told his disciples, “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another” (John 13:34-35). In fact, Jesus and his disciples taught that “God is love.” Anyone who loves is living the divine or God-life (1 John 4:7-21).

People of faith from all walks of life had believed this truth for thousands of years.

Today, science has caught up to this age-old wisdom and is saying the same thing. The Harvard Longitudinal study and many other studies have shown us that money, fame, power, security are not the secret of the good life. Loving relationships are. This kind of love is not a random feeling that comes whenever it wishes. Instead, it’s a decision, a choice we make to love others, serve them, and stand up for them. I love how Voddie Baucham defined love. He said, “Love is an act of the will accompanied by emotion that leads to action on behalf of its object.” Love is a choice and. a verb.

Those who live the good life choose love in the decisions they make. They don’t randomly walk the path of love. They choose it daily by prioritizing love in the decisions they make every day. The most important thing we can do to make wise, life-giving decisions is to make sure we choose to love through the choices we make.

The way of love is the way of life and life to the fullest. In fact, I believe that the single reason we are alive on earth today is to learn how to love–how to love God and how to love each other. Nothing matters more in life than love. Without love, everything is meaningless, a chase after the wind. That’s why you should begin your decision-making with the word of love. You should ask, does this choice align with the word of love? Does it allow me to love God, self, and neighbor?

Word as constitution and values
The word represents a person’s values, beliefs, priorities, and the principles that guide one’s life. The word is the thing that a person has surrendered their life to so that it guides the way they live. The word is an anchor for living through the storms of life. They find peace and fulfillment when their life is lived in alignment with the word. The word provides a moral compass and filter through which to make decisions that are not only ethical but beneficial to them, the people around them, and the world at large. Examples of the word include a constitution, personal core values, mission statement, the Bible, etc.

A dictionary defines the word constitution as, “A body of fundamental laws, principles, or established precedents according to which a state or other organization is acknowledged to be governed.” Another dictionary says, “a constitution is the system of fundamental laws and principles that prescribes the nature, functions, and limits of a government or institution.” Constitutions and similar documents aren’t merely good for countries and organizations. They are useful for individuals as well and provide stability in times of emotional turbulence that would otherwise hijack the decision-making process.

Our Choices Reflect our Values
What we choose to do, not merely what we say reflects what we value. If one were to review our lives and look at all our choices and decisions, it will give them great insight into what we truly value, what is important to us, what we believe, and what our priorities are. If one looks at how we choose to spend our money; the kind of house we choose to buy; the kind of car we choose; the kind of work we choose to do; the kind of friends we choose to have, all of those things tell us loudly what we value.

Many times, the values that our choices say we have are not the values we profess to have. We can use this knowledge of values to make better decisions that align with our desired values. In a sense, all decisions are values-based decisions. Without aligning our choices with our written, conscious values and believes, we end up aligning them with our unconscious values which sometimes may not reflect where we want to go with our lives. Our unconscious values may reflect the brokenness of our past and the experiences that scared and shaped us and may not reflect the future we desire to have.

If we identify our values and priorities and then align our decisions with them, we ensure that we make choices that we are proud of.

Written constitutions and the word
Countries have a written word (or constitution) that guides them. To live a happy and prosperous life, every inhabitant of the country must surrender their will to the will of that constitution. The constitution is something greater than each of them. It guides life and helps citizens live life with a purpose that is greater than each of them. It allows for life that looks after communal good. The same is true for the word we choose to lead our lives by.

When rightly done, a country’s constitution creates a culture that has a certain worldview. A synonym for worldview is “belief system”.

A person’s worldview is their comprehensive philosophy or conception of the world and of human life. It is the overall perspective from which one sees and interprets the world. It is the paradigm or the lenses with which they see the world. It’s what one believes about the world, which in turn guides how they see the world and how they respond.

This idea of the word and worldview is not limited to individuals. Businesses also have beliefs/worldview and core values that impact their choices.

According to the Collins Dictionary, a person or society’s belief system “is the set of beliefs that they have about what is right and wrong and what is true and false” In other words, it is a collection of beliefs about life and the universe held by an individual or a group.

To make great decisions, you must align your decisions with your word and worldview. A decision is a choice. You must make choices that are consistent with your word and worldview. Ask yourself: If I chose this option, would that be congruent with my values and worldview? Does it agree with what I believe? Does it agree with my core values?

Are you an atheist, a believer in a deity, or unsure? It does matter. Everybody has beliefs and assumptions that shape the decisions they make.

The point here is to ask yourself, “is the decision I am about to make congruent with who I am deep inside and how you see the world?” That is, does it represent your values and worldview? You are the decisions you make. Your decisions determine your destiny. They determine who you become.

Related article: 7 Core Values of Success in Everything I Do

NB: The overwhelming majority of people around the world believe in some form of personal God. If your faith means a lot to you and influences the way you live your life, then your faith will also influence your values and worldview. And that is perfectly fine. If that’s the case, ask yourself, does this decision align with the Word of God? Is it in line with the will of God?

If you don’t believe in a personal God, no problem, let your beliefs also influence your worldview. Everybody has a worldview, whether they believe in God or not.

Our decisions are as good as our belief systems. To use another analogy, our worldview/belief system is analogous to the operating system of a computer. Our brains are like the CPU (Central Processing Unit). Just like every input into the computer is processed through the operating system, so it is with our worldview.

To make sure you stick by your worldview or word, do this: Rededicate yourself to your why and worldview before making any major decisions.

Three categories of worldviews

I recently listened to the Kenyan apologist, John Njoroge, speak about worldviews. He said something that will throw light on a lot of people’s understanding of worldviews. He said, contrary to what many people believe, to understand and test worldviews to find which ones are more coherent and correct, you don’t have to be an expert in each of the thousands of worldviews that exist across the world. All the worldviews that exist, he said, can be grouped into three categories.

1) The view that only the universe exists. This view is held by naturalists and atheists.
2) The view that only God exists. This view is held by many Eastern religions.
3) The view that both God and the universe exist. This view is held by Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.

In which of these categories does your worldview belong? Acknowledge your worldview and act accordingly.

Attributes of the true Word: Good & Holy

The word that your life and your choices are based on will determine the quality of your choices. The word is the foundation on which all true decision-making is built. Wisdom comes from following the true word.

While one may choose any word they want to guide their life, I’ve found that the right word for guiding life must at least be 1) GOOD, and 2) HOLY.

Holiness

Holiness both of motive/intent and execution

To go with the concept of the Word is the concept of Holiness. Dr. John MacArthur, a theologian, has described the word holy (in reference to God) as follows, “Of all the attributes of God, holiness is the one that most uniquely describes Him and in reality is a summation of all His other attributes. The word holiness refers to His separateness, His otherness, the fact that He is unlike any other being. It indicates His complete and infinite perfection. Holiness is the attribute of God that binds all the others together.” (John MacArthur, on GTY.org)

Well, you and I are not God. You may not even believe in God. How can this spiritual concept of holiness help you make better decisions? Holiness carries the idea of being morally upright, righteous, impeccable, blameless, above reproach, without sin, and perfect in goodness. Holiness encompasses truth and all the attributes that are good about a person. Holiness has to do with the moral health of a decision at a deep and thorough level.

Your Word and your decisions need to be holy and reflect a holy heart that is morally upright and seeks the good of all people whether they are present or not, whether they can speak for themselves or not.

Below is a quick and imperfect test of the perfect quality of holiness.

HDTV / Honor Test / The News Paper Test / the Holiness test.

If your choice were to be printed on the front page of the major newspapers or aired on HD TV, would you feel honored? Would you be proud of this choice?

Is this something you would be proud of if your children or loved ones found out? If the whole world knows about it, will you be proud of it?

If the answer is no, then don’t do it. This test is very powerful. Even people believe and fear a God who is omnipresent, omniscient, and omnipotent still do certain things in secret–even though they know God is seeing–that they wouldn’t do in public. The public is very unforgiving and they won’t want to do it if the whole world would know about it.

I love this quote by Paul of Tarsus. “Brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.” Paul of Tarsus

I think we not only must think about what is true, honorable, just, pure, lovely, commendable, excellent, and praiseworthy but must also speak and do such things.

The letter and spirit of the word / the specific word and the character of the word

The word has both the letter and the spirit, and both must be considered when making decisions. There are many people who take the word to mean the word of God, the Bible.  Using them as an example, the Bible is the written word or letter of the word. In addition to that, there is a spirit of the word which can be seen in the general principles espoused by the written word. This distinction is important because there are some things that are not written in the Bible that believers have to do. For example, whom one marries, the kind of house one lives in, the kind of school one goes, etc., are not written in the Bible. You wouldn’t be able to see a passage of written text in the Bible that could help a person directly make that decision. That’s when relying on the spirit of the word becomes important.

The same concept is true for a country, such as the United States, that has a written constitution. The founding fathers wrote the text of the constitution and those who amended it did so. However, not everything they had in mind for the country they were creating was able to be written down in the kind of specifics that would apply to every imaginable situation that could arise. That’s why those who interpret the constitution must learn it so well that they understand the spirit of the constitution and use that to guide them when the letter of the law is silent.

Another way to express this concept is the idea of a specific (written) word and the character of the word (i.e., the general/summative word). The specific word refers to a specific line of text such as a verse of scripture or section of the constitution. The character of the word is seen in the general principles of the word. The summative word tells you the character of the word.

If you know the character of a person, you can predict their behavior. Knowing their character helps you to know what they can do even if you haven’t seen them do it; that it, even if you don’t have a specific historical record of them doing or saying they could do that behavior. The same is true here. In Christian theology, there is the idea of the written word of God and the character (attributes) of God. One comes to these attributes by systematically reading the entire word of God. Knowing the character of God allows one to know the mind of God on issues where there is no specific written scripture that expresses God’s through on the issue. This idea is not limited only to God or people. The reason why core values are so essential to building an organizational culture is that when clearly defined and lived, core values and the culture they help create allow two employees working for the same company but in different offices or even different parts fo the world to have the same mindset and come up with an approach that represents their CEO and company well. Employees can predict what would be right, even when there is no written instruction in the employee manuals or their job description or operation manual about it.

Filter Questions:
– Would this choice align with the letter and the spirit (character) of the word? That is, Does it align with your beliefs and values?
– Does it honor your core priorities?
– Is this choice Good and Holy? Does this align with the character of Good?
– If the whole world knew about this choice, will it bring me honor or dishonor? Does this honor God? Does this represent the heart of God? Does making this choice allow me to grow in goodness and holiness?

Activity: If you don’t have written beliefs and values, this is a good time to write them down. Your worldview (or word of God, if you are a person of faith) will shape what your mission, calling, beliefs, and values are.

2. Information

A) Gather the facts! Listen to the facts!

The truth shall set you free.

“There is no contradiction between faith and fact. Find out everything you can before you make a decision.” Rick Warren

“All who are prudent act with knowledge” King Solomon

If you want to make informed decisions, you need to base them on accurate information. The second key to making wise decisions is to get the facts. Do your research. Gather both scientific and spiritual information to gain a greater insight into the situation.

Is this decision based on the facts?  Base your decisions on facts, not feelings. Wise decisions are made by gathering the facts, understanding them, and applying them. Keep in mind the Data, Information, Knowledge, and Wisdom (DIKW) relationship.

Here is some wisdom from the ages for this point:
“Every prudent man acts out of knowledge. How stupid to decide before knowing the facts!”
“Sensible people are careful to stay out of trouble, but stupid people are careless and act too quickly.”

Note: Avoid the perfection trap. The perfectionist keeps gathering information. It’s never enough and very soon they get paralysis by analysis. You don’t need to have all the facts. You just need to know enough to make a responsible decision.

**Also note that a key part of information gathering is gathering information that allows you to analyze and understand the problem you are dealing with. Based on an accurate understanding of the problem, you need to gather the information that will help you to elicit and evaluate possible solution options.

Types of Information to gather

There are two major types of knowing. First, one can know something from a scientific/empirical observation/study of the material universe around us. This is the scientific path. Second, one can know something through discernment or receiving a revelation from the immaterial universe. This is the spiritual path and knowledge can be received as instincts/inner sense/inner wisdom/intuition. Some people call this gut feeling. Contrary to common belief, especially among atheistic scientists, it is very reasonable to believe that science is not the only way to know. There are things that science, by definition, cannot know because it limits itself to the study of the material world.

If your decision and the options you are considering will benefit only from scientific (quantitative or qualitative) knowledge, then get that kind of information. If it would benefit from spiritual information, then, by all means, get that. If it would benefit from both, then get both. In my experience, most major decisions require a connection with both worlds, a connection between the head and the heart; the mind and the spirit.

Two sources of information

1. External information: You gather information from research studies and recorded experience. You get this kind of information from journals, books, interviews, etc.
2. Internal information: the inner voice (still small voice) / inward promptings of the Spirit/our inner promptings/instincts/inner sense/intuition provide a crucial dimension of information that is helpful in effective decision-making. If you listen to stories of many great scientific discoveries, you will not fail to notice the element that intuition, instinct, inner sense, and providence often plays a crucial step.

The internal information that guides us is often referred to by many names in addition to instincts, inner sense, or intuition. Impressions, inward promptings of the spirit, or inner impulses of the spirit are also names for this quiet inner voice.

Here are a few questions to ask yourself when trying to judge the things you sense instinctively.
1) Does it make you grow and mature? The voice of truth always moves us toward growth spiritually, mentally, physically, and socially.
2) Is it convicting rather than condemning? The voice of truth never condemns you. If you hear voices that condemn you, say you are no good, bring stress to your life or make you feel like quitting or not living at all, you can be sure that those are not voices of truth and love.
3) Does it concern my responsibility? Inspirations that are for you both align with your DESIGN and are concerning something within your province and that you have been called to do. We are to mind the business we’ve been called to do.

At the information gathering stage, I encourage leaders to hold empirical information in the right hand and what your instincts are saying in the left hand and pay attention to both. I encourage them to harness their ability to acquire and rightly process both types of information.

You have to seek information and guidance from within and without. What our creator reveals on the inside must align with the providential things he does on the outside. Internal evidence must agree with external evidence.

At this point, a word of caution is in order. We know that many great pioneers have had ideas that were way ahead of their times. Their peers and their societies didn’t believe them and sometimes even persecuted them. Success in business often comes when great entrepreneurs have an idea by instinct, intuition, or inner sense and really believe that it would change the world when very few people do. Many times, there isn’t much external evidence or proof because it may be a new field. The idea of aligning internal and external evidence doesn’t negate the importance of sometimes going with the inner voice against all odds.

Think of some of the most successful companies in the world like Amazon, Disney, HP, Microsoft, Facebook, and Google. These were all innovative ideas at the time. Guess where they started? They all started in their founder’s garages, not on Wall Street or in Sky Scrapers. Why? Their founders pursued their inner sense/instincts and believed that their companies were going to become something big but they still had to start small in their garage and prove their concept. As the concept was proven, investors joined. And they moved out of garages into the buildings that they envisioned.

I teach several courses on social entrepreneurship at Servants University. In addition to that, I frequently work with many leaders who are also people of faith. Something I’ve discovered is that they often want to operate by the inner sense alone. When they sense something that they believe God wants them to do, they want to go out and create the final vision right away. Somehow, they feel that starting slow and letting things just happen naturally means they are showing a lack of faith in God. When they see the vision of a megachurch that God has shown them, they want to raise funds and build a church that can seat 500 people even though they haven’t even held a single service or won any followers. When I speak with them, I like to use examples that the audience understands. I point to Joseph and David. The dreams Joseph had didn’t happen in a day or a year or even a decade. He had to be thrown in a pit, mocked, sold as a slave to a foreign country, thrown in prison and forgotten before his dreams ever happened. And he did little to bring about those dreams outside his character development and devotion. David was the same way, the vision that he would become king took over a decade and he had to run for his life for a long time.

If you are a person of faith who has an inner sense/instinct that you ought to do something good. Have you explored the possibility of starting small (perhaps in a garage or by renting a place), testing the concept to make sure it is successful before then growing to the point of building a building or investing in a bigger way? To be honest, there have been times when my inner sense has turned out wrong. Many great people of faith would tell you that they don’t get the revelation right every time. For every significant, project, it is wise to test things by going slow and seeing how things turn out. That is not a lack of faith. It is wisdom.

I have encountered pastors and leaders who have advised that if God gives a person a vision of a future church that is a Megachurch, it’s smart to start small. Let God build it. That’s not showing a lack of faith in God because the vision is usually of the end, not the beginning. I love the way Habakkuk puts this concept, “This vision is for a future time. It describes the end, and it will be fulfilled. If it seems slow in coming, wait patiently, for it will surely take place. It will not be delayed.“

God himself will build the vision one step at a time. And the most important part of any ministry isn’t the building or the heavy investment resources, it’s having the people who need your ministry affirm your ministry by coming to seek you even when you are not yet where you need to be. Meeting in makeshift places and starting small is very wise. For example, Rick Warren started the famous Saddleback Church in his living room. When it grew out of there, he rented school gymnasiums and held church in there for many years before building the 50-acre dream campus God put in his heart. In business terms, that allows for a concept to be tested and the market proved before serious resources are invested.

George Muller’s Values-Based Decision-Making Model

The famous Orphan Care worker and pastor George Muller used the following systematic approach to discerning the will of God. I think we can learn a lot from him as we seek to make wise decisions and discern the voice of truth in our lives. I find Muller’s example to be instructive to both atheists and people of faith because it represents a Values-Based Decision-Making Model. In medicine, we use values-based decision-making models to help patients make good medical decisions. Values-based decision-making is very effective in every area of life, not only when it comes to medical decisions.

Muller wrote the following about his approach:

1. “I seek at the beginning to get my heart into such a state that it has no will of its own in regard to a given matter. Nine-tenths of the trouble with people generally is just here. Nine-tenths of the difficulties are overcome when our hearts are ready to do the Lord’s will, whatever that may be. When one is truly in this state, it is usually but a little way to the knowledge of what His will is.
2. Having done this, I do not leave the result to feeling or simple impression. If so, I make myself liable to great delusions.
3. I seek the will of the Spirit of God through, or in connection with, the Word of God. The Spirit and the Word must be combined. If I look to the Spirit alone without the Word, I lay myself open to great delusions also. If the Holy Ghost guides us at all, He will do it according to the Scriptures and never contrary to them.
4. Next, I take into account providential circumstances. These often plainly indicate God’s will in connection with His Word and Spirit.
5. I ask God in prayer to reveal His will to me aright.
6. Thus, through prayer to God, the study of the Word, and reflection, I come to a deliberate judgment according to the best of my ability and knowledge; and if my mind is thus at peace, and continues so after two or three more petitions, I proceed accordingly. In trivial matters, and in transactions involving the most important issues, I have found this method always effective.”

For Muller, the Word of God (Bible) is an uncompromising core value. Every decision he makes must align with it. Impressions, ideas or inward promptings that he has must align with what for him is an unshakable core value, the word of God. The word of God for him is the sum of all his core values. Not only does he make sure that his inward promptings must align with his core values (Bible/word of God), but he also looks at the facts which are revealed in what he calls providential circumstances.  Next, he prays, studies his core values (word of God), and reflects until he gets to a position where his “mind is at peace“.

Men like George Muller value and treasure the words of God (bible) more than my daily bread. It is their central core value. When they make decisions that align with it, it brings them joy.

Filter Question:
Does the choice I want to make or the direction I want to take align with well-researched and examined facts?
Is the choice I want to make or the direction I want to take consistent with my inner sense or inward prompting of the holy spirit?
Have I evaluated the costs of the option I’m choosing and find them acceptable?
Have I tested my ideas before deploying them on a large scale?

3. Surrendered & Humble heart

You need a surrendered heart/will, humility, and patience to hear from God.

Surrender yourself to the Lord, and wait patiently for Him (Psalm 37:7 GW).

“The integrity of the upright guides them.” Proverbs 11:3 ESV

“Righteousness guards the person of integrity” (Proverbs 13:6 NIV).

“Righteous people will be rewarded for their own righteous behavior.” Ezekiel 18:20 NLT

God’s voice often conflicts with fleshly/human nature and its desires and is frequently at odds with human wisdom. God’s ways and thoughts are higher than our thoughts and ways (Isaiah 55:8-9).  As such, to hear God well, we must surrender our heart/will or desires to make way to hear God’s will.

Surrendering our heart/will allows us to be completely honest with ourselves.

Die to yourself & Get to Neutral

Personal integrity is crucial to discerning the voice of truth. The proverb says, “The integrity of the upright guides them.” People of integrity see the truth plainly without any blurriness or confusion. Their genuine character is a paradigm or lens through which they see the world. That lens is clean and clear without any cloudiness.

One of the best things you can do to ensure personal integrity during decision-making is to come to the table as a servant with a surrendered heart. That is, with a servant’s heart or mindset that has no will of its own and is wholly committed to follow the truth wherever it leads and to do whatever it says. I think this point is worth emphasizing. If you want to make wise decisions, you need to come to wisdom’s table as a servant with a surrendered heart. You have to be completely humble and authentic. You will not hear the voice of wisdom any other way. The only way to approach the throne of wisdom and to drink from his cup is to go as a humble servant whose motives are pure and who is intent on serving others and not enriching oneself.

The inclination of the heart must be right. We are created and called to be perpetual servants. As such, to make wise decisions, we must put ourselves in a mindset or paradigm that is servant-hearted. How does one do that? I know of three ways to accomplish this: 1) Surrender your heart (will) and its desires. 2) Submit to serving others. 3) Humble yourself.

A) Surrender the heart and its desires

Surrendering your will mitigates cognitive biases that interfere with effective decision-making.

Have you ever seen two groups of scientists who evaluate the same data and come up with two different conclusions? If you haven’t, trust me, it happens frequently.

Catholics and protestants can look at the same facts from church history and come up with two different interpretations or conclusions.

We often see what we want to see. Our preconceived notions, beliefs, desires, and motivations influence our perceptions. If we believe something is true, we look for evidence to support it. We rarely look for evidence that might refute it. If a man falls in love with a woman before getting to know her to find out if she is a suitable partner for marriage, he ends up spending his time looking for reasons why she is good for him and ignoring every indication that she might not be a suitable partner for marriage.

George Muller handled this entrapment by our desires and passions nicely. He said, “I seek at the beginning to get my heart into such a state that it has no will of its own in regard to a given matter. Nine-tenths of the difficulties are overcome when our hearts are ready to do the Lord’s will, whatever it may be. When one is truly in this state, it is usually but a little way to the knowledge of what His will is.”

The 3rd key to making wise decisions is to get your heart into such a state that it has no will of its own in regard to a given matter.  Remove your emotions from the picture. All you want to know is the truth, no matter what it is. What Mr. Muller calls “the Lord’s will” is simply the truth, the complete truth.

You want nothing but the truth. Why? Because the truth shall set you free. Free from digging yourself further into the pit. Free from future pain. The information you gather from research means nothing if you don’t surrender your will and desires and remove your biases. That’s the problem even with scientific evidence today. The researchers interpret the facts with their own biases and so come out with “scientific” conclusions that differ from reality.

So, get the facts to make an informed decision. But, don’t stop there otherwise your desires and emotions will twist your interpretation of those facts. Surrender your will. Be willing to go wherever the facts take you.

How to handle facts – Surrender

To handle the facts well I recommend the following:

1. Bring our heart desires to a position of neutrality

Become a good scientist and not let the outcome you want to cloud your judgment. As hard as it is, bring your heart to a place where it has no will of its own. This will enable you to be objective.

George Muller, said it this way: “I seek at the beginning to get my heart into such a state that it has no will of its own in regard to a given matter. Nine-tenths of the trouble with people is just here. Nine-tenths of the difficulties are overcome when our hearts are ready to do the Lord’s Will, whatever it may be. When one is truly in this state, it is usually but a little way to the knowledge of what His will is.”

The importance of information in making wise decisions is that the facts will show us the truth. The job of making wise decisions simply becomes making decisions that are in line with the truth. To do this, we must first suspend our own prejudgments and desires so that we can truly handle the information fairly and arrive at the truth.

Unfortunately, many people don’t surrender their own will when they go out seeking the truth. The result becomes that they have selective sight (perception) and selective hearing. They only pick information that supports their preconceived notions and desires. The outcome of that is foolish, not wise decision-making.

Surrender your will and desires and only seek the truth. Follow the facts no matter where they lead, even if they go against your desires. In the end, you will be happier and make wise decisions.

2. Clear our heart of any internal conflict.
Forgive anyone who has hurt you.
Confess your wrongdoing and ask for forgiveness from others you have hurt.
Settle all conflicts.
Reconcile relationships when possible.
Walk in the light. Live according to your truth. Be honest.
Forgiveness, not asking for forgiveness, having ongoing conflicts and un-reconciled relationships creates inner noise and conflict within your soul. It affects your moral fiber and spirit and makes it more difficult for you to make wise decisions.

3. Don’t yield to pressure to compromise pursuing the truth.

If you are making an important decision, there will be huge pressures (both internal and external) to compromise. It’s not a matter of if but when these temptations to compromise will come. Be mentally ready and be prepared to stick to the truth to the end.

If somebody is pressuring you to make a decision on the spot or you might lose an opportunity, don’t do it. If it’s not something you had previously considered and know what you would do in those kinds of situations, pass. What is helpful, to prevent you from missing a good deal but without succumbing to such pressure is to make key decisions beforehand. For example, before going into a negotiation, think of your BATNA.

4. Examine your motives.

Our decisions are only as good as the motives that drive them. Check your heart and make sure you have the right motives.

Common cognitive biases that are stumbling blocks to effective decision-making

Without going into detail, below are common cognitive biases that can negatively affect our decision-making or our ability to discern the voice of truth out of the cacophony of voices vying for our attention daily.

1. Confirmation bias
2. Cognitive dissonance
3. Anchoring bias
4. Illusory superiority / Dunning-Kruger.
5. Overconfidence Bias
6. Illusion of control

B) Be Patient: Slow Down, Be Still and Wait

Resolve not to move until you sense clarity. This is a very difficult thing to ask of some people who like to rush and make choices. However, if you want to make wise decisions, part of surrendering your heart/will must including not moving till the sense a green light or clarity. This doesn’t mean that you should get bogged down in paralysis by analysis or try to wait for every single fact to come in. It only means when the time comes, you will have enough clarity to move by faith and be sure that you are not rushing. Satan is always wanting us to rush and not think through things. Patience is the way of the Lord. If we are ever under pressure to make a decision, we need to be careful because God doesn’t operate by pressuring us.

C) Surrender to the wisdom of Truth

When you surrender your heart/will and put yourself in neutral, you must at the same time surrender to the wisdom of Truth. You must submit yourself to do whatever Truth reveals to you even if it was not your initial preference.

D) Submit to serving others

Surrendering your will removes all the negative hindrances to discerning a situation and making the right decision. At best, surrendering your will puts you at neutral. However, submitting to serving others gives you are a positive advantage in making wise decisions. We are created to serve others and when we have a mindset or paradigm that prioritizes the needs of others, we usually make wise decisions.

Related article: The gateway to finding your calling.

The best identity to wear when trying to make a wise decision is the identity of a servant. Try to honestly relinquish your rights and get yourself to a point where you see yourself as a servant of others. Not that a servant is very different from a dictator who sees himself/herself as doing the people a service. A servant is submitted and sees the people as the master and himself as the servant. Even when the people air, he must find a way to respect them from the heart, showing no condescension, and yet seeking ways to gently persuade them to the truth.

E) Humble Yourself and be Authentic

In addition to these two ways, humility is crucial. It’s impossible to hear God’s voice or make wise decisions without a humble heart. God resists the proud and gives grace to the humble.

Filter Questions:
– Have I surrendered my heart/will, desires, and emotions to seek the truth and nothing but the truth?
– Am I approaching it with the mindset that “it’s not about me, it’s about those I serve?” Am I putting the needs of others first?
– Does this choice show that my heart is fully submitted to serving others? Does this decision position me to better fulfill my calling to serve others?
– Will this choice help me become more servant-hearted?
– Am I walking in humility as I make this decision?
-Am I genuinely being honest with myself?

4. Explore Options: Expand and Evaluate Options

Expand and Evaluate Options. For each option elicited, look at the pros/cons, cost/benefit, risk/reward, eternal perspective lens, test things before scaling, and their effects on others

Evaluate each option, consider the consequences, and examine the effects on others.

Evaluating each option assumes that you have at least one option that has been received either through impressions (or another means that you feel God may be speaking) or you have generated options through brainstorming, for example, in a case where you are not starting off with an idea that you think could be from God.

Making wise decisions involves the elements of the ABCDE model. ABCDE stands for Analyze, Brainstorm, Consider (evaluate) each option, Decide(choose), and Evaluate the results. At this stage in the decision making, you must evaluate each option you generated. See more here.

When it comes to evaluation, you want to know, What are the effects or fruits of this option?

“Every decision has a price tag; it will cost you time, money, energy, reputation, talents, and resources” Dr. Rick Warren

A crucial part of making wise decisions is to evaluate the costs vs. benefits, risks vs. rewards, pros vs. cons, and test the options when possible.

There are five easy ways to evaluate an idea or option you are considering choosing.

1. Pros vs. cons
2. Costs vs. benefits analysis.
3. Risk vs. Reward analysis
4. Eternal perspective lens.
5. Evaluate for the attributes of the voice of God and the effect of the choice on my Christian growth
6. Test everything.

Evaluate the costs vs. benefits, risk vs. reward, pros vs. cons, eternal perspective lens, and experiment (test) options when possible.

Have you done a Pros/Cons, Costs/Benefits, Risks/Reward evaluation? If not, do them.

1. Do a list of Pros/Cons
When George Muller was making the decision whether or not to build his famous orphanage buildings at Ashley Downs, one of the exercises he undertook was to write a list of pros and cons. Today, many decision-makers in business, politics, and other walks of life write a list of pros and cons as part of making a difficult decision.

It’s crucial that you don’t rush into making a mistake. If someone pressures you to make a decision, it’s better to tell them, “I’ll get back to you” than to rush and make the wrong decision. Some people may not like it when you take the time to make a wise decision. But don’t let them pressure you. It’s your life and your decisions. If you make this a principle, it will save you from a lot of trouble. Remember,  it’s more important to make a wise decision than a quick decision.

Sometimes you will notice is that when you handle information well (above) and surrender your will and desires so that they don’t get in the way, you will be able to evaluate the situation fairly.

2. Do a Cost/Benefit Analysis
Do the potential benefits justify the potential costs? What if the costs exceed expectations, and the benefits fall below expectations?

Here are a couple of wisdom proverbs.
“It is foolish and rash to make a decision before counting the costs.”
“A sensible person watches for problems ahead and prepares to meet them. The simpleton never looks and suffers the consequences.”

3. Estimate the Risk/Reward Ratio
Estimate all possible rewards as well as all possible risks. Are the odds in your favor or against you? Look at the effects (good and bad) and the evidence for and against. Who will be impacted by the decision? (both directly and indirectly).

4. Eternal perspective lens

As the glasses you wear determine how clearly you see, so your perspective determines how wisely you choose.

See the situation in the light of eternity.

Begin with the end in mind; Make decisions with the very end in mind.

Put on the eternal perspective lens and look at the options before you.
How would this choice look when seen in the light of eternity? Making decisions in the light of eternity helps us overcome the traps of short-term emotion, self-centeredness, and catastrophizing.

An ancient Psalmist wrote, “Teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.” When you make decisions in the light of eternity, you gain a great perspective. You escape the temporary trappings of our emotions that lure you to make decisions that are too heavily influenced by the present passing moment and instead focus on something that lasts forever.

Ask yourself: How will this choice be seen in the light of eternity?

Related article: How The Light of Eternity Can Help Us Make Wise Decisions.

Related article: Why an Eternal Perspective Changes Everything, by Randy Alcorn.

Many people make decisions only with the present in mind. The passing pressures of the present muddy the mind when they are trying to make decisions. They end up allowing their emotions to heavily influence their choices. To avoid that, make decisions in the light of eternity; chose with the end in mind.

5. Evaluate the attributes of the voice of God and the effect of the choice on my Christian growth

When evaluating an impression, also ask:

1. Is it convicting rather than condemning? “There is no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus” (Rom 8:1 (NLT).
2. Does it make me more like Christ? “In your lives you must think and act like Christ Jesus” (Philippians 2:5 (NCV).
3. Does it concern my responsibility? Jesus: “If I want him to remain alive until I return, what is that to you? You must follow me” (John 21:22 (NIV).

6. Test Everything – Conduct Simple Experiments

“Do not quench the Spirit. Do not despise prophecies, but test everything; hold fast what is good. Abstain from every form of evil.” St. Paul of Tarsus, 1 Thessalonians 5:19-22

Use the simple common sense methods and techniques of modern science to test everything you decide to do. For significant decisions, you don’t have to carry out your decision full-scale. You can deploy a little bit and test and then refine your decision-making before taking further steps. For example, suppose that you wanted to start a chain of five restaurants in a certain portion of the state. You have all the money needed to build all five stores and get them running. You have followed all the filters taught in this article and decide that starting these stores is a good idea. The advice this section is giving is that it may be wise to start one store, run it for a little bit, fine-tune it towards profitability before starting others. You will inevitably make mistakes while doing the first one from which you can learn and improve how you go about the other stores. And if the first store turns out to be a total disaster, you will think twice before starting the others.

My audience members who are people of faith tend to be a little more resistant to this idea of testing everything scientifically. If you are a person of faith who doesn’t believe in this idea of testing ideas scientifically, I invite you to consider the words of St. Paul cited above. A foretelling prophecy is a word of God that comes to the mind of the person who is a prophet. It comes as a thought, an idea. Prophets are regular people like all of us. In fact, when we consider doctrines like the priesthood of all believers and the fact any believer can prophesy, it becomes clear that any good thought that glorifies God in one’s life can be considered a prophecy. I have never met a serious person of faith who would want to do something that is not in accordance with God’s will. That is, it is not a word of God. It is therefore very helpful to apply the standard St Paul teaches of prophecies to the ideas you have about something you want to do that will benefit people around you and glorify God. Test everything. It’s not sufficient for you to believe that it is God’s idea. Actually, test the idea. For example, do you believe that God wants you involved in poverty alleviation and has given you some ideas about how to help the poor? Great! Test your ideas. If your ideas are really from God, they will work and help people. Testing will prove that the idea was a great idea that is helping people as intended. There is no need to be afraid. If it doesn’t work, it’s probably not from God. That’s how God told the ancients to test anyone who said they were a prophet. If their prophecy came true, then they were right. Set up simple studies like randomized control trials (RCTs) and other study formats to test your ideas to ensure that they are actually helping people efficiently and not inadvertently hurting them or not helping them much or as best as possible. If you don’t know how to do these simple testing methods, it’s not a problem. There are many people who can teach you or help you do them. Dr. Esther Duflo’s organization, the Jameel Poverty Action Lab is doing a lot of work in the area of research, training, and policy outreach to ensure that social policy is based on sound scientific evidence. You can learn from their work. Her book, Poor Economics, which she wrote with co-author, Abhijit V. Banerjee, is a good resource. You may also listen to her TED talk titled Social Experiments to fight poverty.

Filter question: Am I looking at this issue with an eternal perspective? Am I viewing this situation in the light of eternity? Am I making this decision with the end in mind?
*An eternal perspective is contrasted to a temporal perspective which focuses on there here and now and allows the emotions and stresses of this present moment to cloud our judgment.

5. Providential Circumstances

The heavens provide clues to help you make wise decisions. Keep your eyes open.

Is the timing right for this choice?

Another key to making wise decisions is to look at the timing and circumstances.

Ask yourself: Is the timing right for this choice? You would probably ask, how does one know when the timing is right for a particular choice or decision? My initial answer is that one would know the same way that a person knows when the season changes and a new season comes; the same way we know when it’s the fall, winter,  spring, or summer. We know when the timing is right for a particular choice by looking at providential circumstances. Providential circumstances are circumstances outside our control that tell us that it is time to do something. Providential circumstances create conditions before us that favor choosing one option over the other. In essence, the circumstances tell us when the timing is right and when it’s not to make a particular choice/decision. The key is to look for providential circumstances and understand them. Providential circumstances can guide us to say yes (choose) a particular option now or to say no.

None of us can cause a season to change. We wait for the providential circumstances that signify a new season to appear and replace the circumstances of the previous season. Then we know that the old season is gone and a new one has come. We know that the time is right to do the things that are done during the new season which couldn’t be done during the old season. With decision making, it’s exactly the same thing. When the sky is covered with dark clouds that promise rain, that is a providential circumstance that tells us to choose an umbrella or raincoat as part of our outfit for the day.

Bill Gross, the founder of Idealab did a study. Idealab has started over a hundred companies. Many of them have been billion-dollar successes and others have failed miserably. He wanted to find out what was the single biggest reason why startups succeed. Why do some startups succeed and others don’t?

He selected five factors:

1. The idea of the business
2. Team / Execution
3. Business Model
4. Funding
5. Timing

He studied the one hundred Idealab companies and another 100 non-idea lab companies, a total of 200 companies. He studied big winners and big losers from each group. Some of the companies studied included Youtube, LinkedIn, Airbnb, Uber, Instagram.

The results? He found that timing came up on top. The idea came in third place.

1. Timing (48%)
2. Team / Execution (32%)
3. The idea (28%)
4. Business model (24%)
5. Funding (14%)

For more on the power of timing, read my article: Opportunity Comes in Waves, Get Ready To Surf.
Watch Bill Gross’ Ted Presentation, here.

Malcolm Gladwell showed a similar thing in his popular book, Outliers: The Story of Success. With numerous examples like the success of people like Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, and even sports stars and teams, Gladwell showed how the timing of providence was indispensable to their success.

Understanding the Timing of Providence

Our ability to read the times and circumstances well will increase the effectiveness of the decisions we make. We know how to read the times quite well already. For example, when the sky is dark and overcast, we know that rain is coming. That helps us make the right decision to take an umbrella with us. Meteorologists are experts at reading the weather.

In business, it’s crucial to be able to read market trends because that allows you to make decisions that position your company to become financially viable. It’s nice to read the times and know that next month, there will be a high demand for gas and gas prices will go up. That way, you can buy more gas and stock and then make a great profit.

Wise people learn to read the times and signs of the times. That helps them when they make decisions. A lot of things can be considered signs, even inspired dreams.

Successful people like Steve Jobs wait ready for the waves of the timing of providence to approach so that they can surf. They know that they can’t create the waves, they can only take advantage of them.

There is a right time and a right place for everything. Have you looked at the times and circumstances to see if they are right? If you do the right thing at the wrong time or in the wrong circumstances, you won’t get the results you want. Are the times and circumstances right?

The three Witnesses

F. B. Meyer, one of the best authors on the subject, has said,

“Sometimes men sigh for an angel to come to point them their way; that simply indicates that as yet the time has not come for them to move. If you do not know what you ought to do, stand still until you do. And when the time comes for action, circumstances, like glow‑worms, will sparkle along your path; and you will become so sure that you are right, when God’s three witnesses concur, that you could not be surer though an angel beckoned you on.

The circumstances of our daily life are to us an infallible indication of God’s Will, when they concur with the inward promptings of the Spirit and with the Word of God. So as long as they are stationary, wait. When you must act, they will open, and a way will be made through oceans and rivers, wastes and rocks.

We often make a great mistake, thinking that God is not guiding us at all, because we cannot see far in front. But this is not His method. He only undertakes that the steps of a good man should be ordered by the Lord. Not next year, but tomorrow. Not the next mile, but the next yard. Not the whole pattern, but the next stitch in the canvas. If you expect more than this you will be disappointed, and get back into the dark. But this will secure for you leading in the right way, as you will acknowledge when you review it from the hill‑tops of glory.”

It’s important to note that the three witnesses Meyer talks about are the same exact three elements George Muller relied upon discerning God’s will as well. Muller said the spirit and the word must agree and he usually looked at the circumstances as well.

Take enough time to make important decisions. Don’t rush through them or make them on the spur of the moment. If you are in a business that requires you to make on the spot decisions, always be prepared for those decisions in advance. Have a good system that allows you to make them quickly without making mistakes. Decide beforehand how far you are willing to go in a negotiation situation.

Filter Questions: Are there any providential circumstances that indicate that the timing right for a specific option/choice? Do the three witnesses concur?

6. Advisers and Authorities (Corporate Guidance)

A) What do trusted advisers say? Does your church family confirm it?

Ask for advice; Ask for Assistance.

Talk to a wise person who’s been where you wish to go or solved the problem you wish to solve.

“The more good advice you get, the more likely you are to win”  King Solomon

“Every matter must be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses.” Paul of Tarsus. Consult at least 2-3 trusted/expert advisers.

Another key to making wise decisions is to consult at least 2-3 trusted advisors with expertise in the area. For important decisions, consult more advisers. The more the merrier. However, be careful of paralysis by analysis.

To gain advice, I talk to people who have made similar decisions, started similar ventures, or been in similar circumstances. I find that it’s best to also talk to people who know your DESIGN.

If you are a Christian, consult wise people within your church family and ask them not just of their opinion but also what they believe God may be saying in the situation. It’s best to consult Christians who have experience in the area.

Another very helpful question is to ask: What would happen if the public knew of your decision? What would the public advise? The public doesn’t have to agree with your decision but it’s often useful to imagine what would happen if the public were to vote Yes/No on whether your idea was wise or not. How would your family vote? How would employees, shareholders, customers, and the entire public vote if they knew the circumstances you were dealing with?

Here is some wisdom from the ancients:
“Plans succeed through good counsel; don’t go to war without the advice of others.”
“Without advice, plans go wrong, but with many advisers, they succeed.”
“The more advice you get, the more likely you are to win.”

In ancient Hebrew law, one witness was not enough to convict anyone accused of any crime or offense they may have committed. Every accusation had to be confirmed by the testimony of two or three witnesses. Here is what the law pronounced: “A single witness shall not suffice against a person for any crime or for any wrong in connection with any offense that he has committed. Only on the evidence of two witnesses or of three witnesses shall a charge be established.” The modern laws of most countries work just like this law from over 4,000 years ago!

I think that this truth can be applied to the establishment of truth through decision-making or when one is trying to confirm an inner sense. Every correct choice must be confirmed by at least 2-3 witnesses or people who have inside knowledge on the subject matter or are trustworthy experts on the subject.

It’s important to note that this law established minimum criteria for establishing or confirming an accusation. Obviously, the more people, the more credible witnesses you have, the better. What happens, when there are 4 witnesses who say something happened and 4 witnesses who say it didn’t happen? Both sides have more than the 2-3 witnesses needed to establish a claim. What if 3 people say someone committed a crime but 10 people say they were also there and that person didn’t commit the crime they are accused of? This is where wisdom comes in.

Smart decision-makers seek many advisers because they know that in the multitude of counselors there is safety. But something that sets the smart decision-makers apart from the average decision-makers is that smart decision-makers also consider the views of those who advise against their views. By doing this, they mitigate confirmation bias which is a cognitive bias that a person only gathers evidence that supports what they believe. Listen to both those whose advice confirms your ideas and those whose advice doesn’t. Seek to understand why each person thinks as they do. Then make your decision after listening to all the advice.

Get the advice of your Advocate
Each of us has an Advocate speaks to our hearts. He has been sent to teach us all things and remind us of everything that comes from the truth. We need to listen to the advice from the still small voice of our Advocate. We never go wrong when we listen to his leading on our hearts. His advice is better by far than that of any human being by far.

B) What do your authorities say about it?

In both spiritual and natural discernment and decision-making, the views of one’s authority or authorities on an issue they are trying to navigate and find the wise path to take is crucial. Bruce Wilkinson calls this “the validation of your authority’s permission” in his lecture series titled The Vision of the Leader. In spiritual discernment, God honor’s authority. Wilkinson says that “submission to your boss is a submission to God.” This is outside of yourself and so outside the purview of your emotions. Of course, this doesn’t mean that bosses are perfect. It only means that God is perfect and can walk through any boss, regardless of their character. Having said that, Wilkinson added that it’s important to emphasize that there are rare circumstances in which one’s authority is obviously outside of God’s will and is standing in the way of God’s will. In such cases, one must peaceable and honorably be patient, respectful, and seek God’s will and timing to get out from under that authority.

Wilkinson cautions that we should be careful not to coax our bosses to give us the answer we want to hear or an answer they are only giving to avoid problems. Does your boss/board say:

A. No (unanimously), or
B. Maybe / if you really want to, I am okay, etc., or
C. Absolutely and enthusiastically, yes! We think it’s a great idea. In fact, we want you to do it!

Which one is it? You definitely want C. The answer B is often really an A. Some people will give you that half-hearted answer because they don’t want to offend you or hurt your feelings.

Note: Be careful to rightly delineate where people’s authority over you begins and ends. For example, your board of directors has authority over the activities of your organization, not how you raise your children, invest your personal money, etc. Your boss has authority over you when it comes to how you make decisions about your work in that company and not outside.

Filter Question:
Have you consulted at least 2-3 wise expert advisers? Do at least 2-3 trusted wise advisers agree with the option you want to choose? Why do they agree?
What do your authorities say about it?
Have you consulted the Advocate for advice? Have you prayed to God for assistance in making this decision?
Does your church family confirm this option?
Are there any trusted advisers who disagree? Why do they disagree?

7. Talents

God has given each of us the ability to do certain things well. Romans 12:6a (LB)

The word “talents” is often used in a narrow sense to mean a natural ability or aptitude to be good at something, especially without being taught. It is also used in a broader sense to mean all the endowments that a person has received for life. This broader definition includes a narrow sense of one’s natural abilities but also includes more. It includes every gift, opportunity, advantage, or blessing that you have received. For example, when compared to a child who grows up homeless and poor, the child whose parents are a doctor and a nurse and who grows up attending private schools has been given an opportunity that they must steward it for the common good. They would have to give an account to God for how they stewarded those opportunities.

Jesus told a story, often called the parable of the talents (or parable of the three servants), that illustrates this broad definition of talents well. Jesus illustrated or compared the kingdom of God to the story of a man going on a long trip and leaving behind different amounts of his money to three different servants to manage. Jesus said,

“For it will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted to them his property. To one he gave five talents, to another two, to another one, to each according to his ability. Then he went away. He who had received the five talents went at once and traded with them, and he made five talents more. So also he who had the two talents made two talents more. But he who had received the one talent went and dug in the ground and hid his master’s money. Now after a long time, the master of those servants came and settled accounts with them. And he who had received the five talents came forward, bringing five talents more, saying, ‘Master, you delivered to me five talents; here, I have made five talents more.’ His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.’ And he also who had the two talents came forward, saying, ‘Master, you delivered to me two talents; here, I have made two talents more.’ His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.’ He also who had received the one talent came forward, saying, ‘Master, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you did not sow, and gathering where you scattered no seed, so I was afraid, and I went and hid your talent in the ground. Here, you have what is yours.’ But his master answered him, ‘You wicked and slothful servant! You knew that I reap where I have not sown and gather where I scattered no seed? Then you ought to have invested my money with the bankers, and at my coming I should have received what was my own with interest. So take the talent from him and give it to him who has the ten talents. For to everyone who has will more be given, and he will have an abundance. But from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away. And cast the worthless servant into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth’” (Matthew 25:14-30).

This parable uses talent (money). However, talents in the story symbolize something valuable that the person who entrusts it to the servant expects the servant to invest, manage, and grow the value. It doesn’t only have to be money, it could be a natural talent, money, position, education, and any advantage that one has received. This book uses talents in this broad sense.

The reason why it’s important to consider our talents (broadly) when trying to discern our calling, make decisions, or discern the voice of God is that God always gives us assignments and instructions that help us invest and grow the talent he has given us. Like the master in the above story, God wants to see us invest and multiply our talents. In the end, we would have to meet him and give an account of how we used the talents he gave us. He would stand as judge over us based on how we acted with that talent. Since God is always with us and loves to see us do well in the end, he is always providing guidance to us to help us do well today so that we can do well on the final exam day–when we have to give him an account.

When Ken Blanchard was a university professor, at the beginning of the semester, he would give his students all the questions that were going to be on the final exam. Then he would spend the semester teaching them to make an A grade on the final exam. The goal was for every student to be taught and mentored to make an A-grade. Great leaders use that approach to leading people. They want all their team members to perform well and make straight As and A-pluses.

Ken Blanchard says, when you’re managing people’s performance within an organization, there are three parts to it. First, there’s performance planning. Performance planning is where you set the goals/objectives and clarify expectations. That is you give them the final exam questions ahead of time. You let them know, “Here’s what you’re being held accountable for doing.” Here’s what good behavior is. Here’s what excellent performance looks like.” The second part is day-to-day coaching. Day-to-day coaching involves you working with them to help them achieve their performance goals. In Mr. Blanchard’s words, this is teaching them the answers throughout the semester.  The 3rd part is performance evaluation. You do the first two parts so that when they get to the third part, which is the performance evaluation, they all make A grades and A-pluses. 

God is the quintessential servant leader. He gives you talents (DESIGN) and tells you that he will judge you on how you use those talents during the final exam. He puts his Spirit in you to guide you so that you and give you not only day-to-day coaching but also minute by minute coaching. Yet, what do we do? We take the exam questions but never open them to read and understand them. So even though God makes them available, we never know the exam questions. As a result, we don’t understand the day-to-day and minute-to-minute coaching he is giving us to help us learn the answers and do what is right so that we would be ready on exam day. Some of us may not go out and dig a place to bury our talent like the third servant did because it’s a talent that can’t be buried. We bury it in a pile of ignorance by never trying to discover it.

As a review, in a narrow sense, our talents are our natural abilities or gifts. They refer to our natural bent or wiring. Our wiring together with other talents (broadly) help us determine our why/purpose. Design determines destiny. An excellent way to make decisions about what you want to do or not do is to ask, does this align with my talents? If you have already determined your purpose, which must align with your talents, then you may also ask, does this decision align with my purpose?

Simon Sinek wrote an excellent book on purpose titled, “Start with why.” I think when making difficult decisions, after you have gathered information to understand the nature of the situation you are facing,  a good question you should ask is, does it align with my sweet spot? Does it align with my talents? Does it align with my why?

At a company level, an organization’s calling or higher purpose, which is often defined as “the difference it is trying to make in the world” is important for decision making as well. An organization’s calling shouldn’t be limited to what it does to those it’s called to serve but also must include what the organization is called to do to those who are a part of it.  An often forgotten part that must go with it is the difference it is trying to make in the people who work there –a difference at the level of character and the soul of those that work within the organization itself. People are designed to do work that helps make them better human beings while at the same time making the world a better place.

Ask yourself: Have you surrendered this decision to your higher purpose?

A company’s higher purpose and what it believes (worldview) are great filters for making wise decisions.

Watch Simon Sinek demonstrate using “why” or purpose as a decision-making filter.

If you don’t know your wiring or why and would like to know, read my article, titled, DESIGN: 6 Keys to Finding Your Calling or Element.

Related article: The Difference between a talent and a strength.

Filter Questions: Would this choice align with my broad talents? Even your personality and the experiences that have shaped you are talents you’ve been given.  Does this align with your personality? Does it align with your past experiences?

Activity: Self-awareness and self-understanding are crucial to making good decisions and to living life in general. If you don’t know your purpose and calling, this is the time to identify it so that it can guide this and your future choices.

8. Heart Harmony (Holy Spirit’s Peace)

“And let the peace (soul harmony which comes) from Christ rule (act as umpire continually) in your hearts [deciding and settling with finality all questions that arise in your minds, in that peaceful state] to which as [members of Christ’s] one body you were also called [to live]. And be thankful (appreciative), [giving praise to God always]” (Colossians 3:15 AMP).

In my practice, I let peace rule in my spirit/heart helping to confirm or warn me of potential choices. I’m reminded of the words of Saint Paul on this subject. He wrote to his spiritual proteges, “And let the peace (soul harmony which comes) from Christ rule (act as umpire continually) in your hearts [deciding and settling with finality all questions that arise in your minds, in that peaceful state] to which as [members of Christ’s] one body you were also called [to live]. And be thankful (appreciative), [giving praise to God always]” (Colossians 3:15).

You don’t have to be a Christian to understand that a sense of peace within the heart confirms to us that we are walking in the light of truth. That goes beyond just having a clear conscience.

My last key to making wise decisions is to listen for peace in the heart/spirit. This is where I am listening for confirmation within my spirit or within my inner self. It could be a quiet inner voice or thoughts/mental impression, it could be a sense of conviction and faith that the choice I am making is the right one, etc. The key is there is no fear, no serious doubt. I get to a place where I feel inner peace. This inner peace shouldn’t be mistaken for external peace. One can feel inner peace in the middle of a serious conflict when things are falling apart externally. It is possible to feel peace within the eye of a storm.

Wait for peace. Never make big decisions until you have been patient, meditate, prayed, or reflected over the situation and have a holy peace about the course of action you are choosing. A holy peace is a heart harmony that affirms and confirms that you are taking or about to take a morally right and holy step. Never make a decision without this peace.

Persist in meditation, prayer, reflection –whatever works for you. Important decisions may take weeks or even months to make while easy ones take minutes.

After doing this, ask: Do I feel peace about this decision? I don’t proceed with a particular direction until I feel peace about it.

Be Patient. Don’t rush. Let the dust settle. Don’t move until you find peace. If you try to sense peace in the middle of chaos, you may make a mistake. Let some time pass. The universe bows to those who are patient and seek the truth. God will make everything work for good.

Another helpful thing at this stage is to ask yourself: Why are we choosing to make a decision? Is the motivation inspiring or demanding/condemning? Is this decision motivated by fear/avoidance of pain or is it inspired by a promise of pleasure/opportunity?

I find that fear is not usually a good reason to make a decision to change course. Love, faith, and hope for a brighter future is a much better guiding star to follow than fear.

In an upright and moral person with strong values of truth who has spent time cultivating and renewing his heart (to be more and more like the heart of Christ), a sense of peace in the spirit and what is often called “gut feeling” can be a really important decision-making guide.

What is your gut feeling? What are your instincts hinting? What does your inner voice say? Listen to your heart, your intuition, your gut instincts, your spirit.

Filter Question: Do I feel peace (harmony) in my heart about the option I’m choosing?

BONUS

A bonus filter for making wise decisions is to simply ask: Is this a wise path to take? Is this a wise choice?

It’s amazing what light and clarity we get from simply asking the question, “Is this wise?” Is this something a wise person would choose or do? Would someone with great wisdom call it a wise decision? Get out of yourself and look from outside, from the perspective of a wise person who is not emotionally involved with the decision. Be honest about it and don’t try to bend the truth to suit your liking. When you ask this question honestly, the light will fall on your circumstances and you will begin to see things a little more clearly.

CONCLUSIONS

WISE PATH doesn’t only work for business decisions. I use it for making personal and family decisions all the time.

Our decisions determine destiny. Your decisions determine your destiny. Your choices determine your future. Discipline determines your destiny.

Final advice: Don’t wait for perfect conditions. King Solomon once said, “If you wait for perfect conditions, you will never get anything done.” That’s absolutely true. The problem with some people is that they get stuck in making the decision that they never get anything done. Many times in life, you can’t wait for all the information to come in before you can make the decision. You have to do your best to get as much information as you can but then make the decision and continue to learn as you go.

I hope this helps you to make wise decisions.

If you love this post, share it. Let’s make the world a better place through better decision-making!

 

Citations

George Muller, Pierson, Arthur Tappan. George Müller of Bristol (Illustrated Edition) (p. 335). Unknown. Kindle Edition.