A prudent man sees the evil and hides himself, but the simple pass on and are punished [with suffering]. Proverbs 22:3, Amplified Bible (AMP)

The office manager where I work has the gloriously awful habit of bringing baked goods to the office every Monday morning. My irresistable sweet tooth, combined with the fact that our office manager is a fantastic pastry chef, means that I have no choice but to partake of the dainties she brings in.

Today she brought in various sizes and flavors of cupcakes, and I dove right in without hestitation. The cupcake I grabbed was tiny, so I threw the entire thing into my mouth and began to chew. It was delicious, but something tasted out of sorts. I couldn’t quite put my finger on it, so I moved on to cupcake number two in a futile attempt to satsify my insatiable sweet tooth. As I brought cupcake number two towards my mouth, I realized what was weird about cupcake number one: I had forgotten to take the paper cupcake wrapper off of the first cupcake!  After a good belly laugh with a couple of folks in the office, I proceeded to devour cupcake number two…then number three…then number four…

Often, the difference between making a good decision for The Lord and making a bad decision boils down to whether or not we’ve properly examined the ramifications of the choice we are about to make. In my youth, I made many decisions without considering the potential long-term risks associated with those decisions, and some of those decisions continue to have negative consequences in my life today, years later. In business, in our personal lives, and in the arena of personal holiness, we often “go with our gut” without making much of an effort to envision how our decisions will play out one year from now, five years from now, and so on. This lack of vision can cause us to stumble, and before we know it we are rolling uncontrollably down a mountain of destruction.

To be sure, we don’t want to over analyze a decision. If we do, the proverbial “paralysis of analysis” can set in, and we can find ourselves never doing anything of value for The Lord. But we need to develop the habit of beginning with the end in mind before we make an important decision. If we don’t take time to understand how a decision we make today could benefit or destroy a business, a home, or our relationship with The Lord, then we are bound to hesitate when making a decision that would please The Lord, and we are bound to act hastily when making a decision that displeases Him.

Has God called you to some great work, but you can’t make the decision to take the first step?  Ask yourself what your life would be like five years from now if you obeyed versus what it would be like if you disobeyed. When you foresee the rewards of obedience and the punishments of disobedience, you can tell afar off that there is danger in delaying a decision that God obviously wants you to make.

Shop hundreds of Christian-themed products at our new store! A portion of each purchase goes to support the work of Today’s Quote From God. To visit the Today’s Quote From God Store, please click here.