Making Right Choices

September 11, 2011


Background Scripture: Proverbs 4:1 – 27
Lesson Passage: Proverbs 4:10 -15, 20 – 27

It seems that more and more today youth and young adults are bent on making poor decisions in spite of wise counsel from many sources being made available to them. How do we convince our children or those we mentor to make right choices? Perhaps a better question is how did we come to make right choices? Some call it experience and others call it luck. Many of our decisions that turn out to be right choices are the result of instructions and counsel passed down through many years. Our responsibility as adults then is to continue to pass on to others what has been entrusted to us. We want our children and understudies to have the benefit of the wisdom we have now but did not have when were much younger. Solomon declares that wisdom then is the principal thing. In our lesson today, wisdom is personified—that is to say wisdom is spoken of as though it has a personality and mind of its own. Certainly the impact that wisdom has on one’s life will also suggest the same. Having wisdom is like having your own personal mentor following you around and providing constant consultation on everything where a decision is called for or a choice has to be made. Wisdom speaks of the company we keep. Wisdom suggests that we avoid wicked and evil people; some people are not satisfied until they have caused trouble, stirred up dissension, or slandered someone. They work the agenda of Satan who Jesus said comes to kill, steal, and destroy. His agenda is simple and never changes. He never comes to do what is good or to rectify any wrongs. Satan works through many individuals. Some participate willingly because they know not God and others are deceived. Those who choose to follow the devil do so out of ignorance or because their minds have been darkened and they cannot see the light. The issues of life flow from the heart of people. All wars, fights, and jealous activities are conceived in the heart of man. Man’s heart is evil in its unregenerate state; therefore we need to be born again so God can give us a heart which desires light and not darkness. If we are to allow wisdom to govern our lives, then we must guard our hearts against all manner of evil.

The redeemed of the Lord are commanded to pursue after righteousness and to use wisdom to guide us to make right choices. Life is filled with choices. Every day we make many decisions without giving much thought to them but we just follow whatever is in our hearts. Many make decisions that they spend the rest of their lives regretting because they paid no attention to what was coming out of their own hearts. When we pursue wisdom and understanding we do so that we might obtain what we need to make right choices. This is not because of what’s in our heads but because of what’s in our hearts. We study that we may learn and obtain knowledge in our heads. We meditate that whatsoever is on our mind might move into the realm of our heart. When we pursue righteousness because of what’s in our hearts, we will often make right choices. Right choices propel us into an abundant life that reflects God’s glory in us. The father who has learned these things surely wants his children to know them as well.

Robert C. Hudson
September 2, 2011