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be reconsidered! J-low many of us
are befuddled- perhaps held back
from seizing opportunities-by
inability to make wise decisions
and carry them out? How often
have we regretted it when the
proverbial ship carne in for some–
body else? lf only we could be in
the right place at the right time!
The inability to make right dec i–
sions is the major cause of personal
problems. But not only personal
problems. The frighteni ng world
perils that now threaten human life
with extinction are also caused by
inability to make right decisions!
Momentous matters are placed in
the hands of national leaders!
Former U.S. President Warren
Harding described the pressure
when he reportedly burst out to a
friend: " 1 listen to one side and
they seem right, and then ... 1 talk
to the other side and they seem just
as right, and there
r
am wbere I
started ... what a job!"
What would you do, after all, if
you were the bead of a country–
perhaps one of the major nations–
knowing that a small move on your
part could upset your country's
economy, infringe on one or an–
other group's rights as citizens,
touch off demonstrations, start a
local war with a neighboring na–
tion-or serve as a catalyst to
plunge the world into thermonu–
clear- World War III ?
Eyeryone needs the wisdom to
make better decisions-to move to–
ward the goal of saying and doing the
8
right thing every time. Should you
get married? Should you pursue
higher education? Do you have
grounds to sue someone over that dis–
agreement? How should you respond
to that accusation? Can you make
that green light before it changes? Is
this purcbase really a good idea?
Every move we make during the
day is a decision that determines,
to whatever degree, what our fu–
ture Iife is going to be like.
Making wise decisions is not
a matter of chance. Sorne
people are not just "lucky"
Get al/ the
facts.
Make sure you
have all the
vital information
needed
before you decide
anything.
while others are "unlucky." Success
in choices depends on basic, identifi–
able factors, and successful people
are either accidentally or intention–
ally using the right principies · in
making their choices.
If
we know the right principies
and apply them, we eliminate most
of the elements of chance. Success
is assured because we have elimi–
nated the risks.
Where can we learn the princi–
pies of good decision-making?
How Modern Thinking Fails
Wouldn't it be great to have a view
of every s ituation from much
higher up? What if we could be
God, or like God, the One who
created tbe entire cosmos and who
can see everything that happens?
God sees every sparrow that
falls. He knows the names of all
the stars in the heavens. He can
number every hair of our heads–
he is aware of even the thoughts
and intents of our hearts.
If only humans had that kind of
vision! But this type of overview is
exact ly what we lack.
Much of our inability to make
better decisions stems from not be-
ing able to see the bigger picture–
not remembering that for every ef–
fect tbere is a cause. Often we
don't think clearly and see the
probable end results of actions that
may at the moment seem right.
The ancient prophet Jeremiah
intoned, "1 know the way of man is
not in himself; it is not in man who
walks to direct his own steps" (Jer.
10:23, Revised Authorized Ver–
sion, except where noted).
Elsewhere, the book of Proverbs
notes, "Where thcre is no vision, the
people perish" (Prov. 29:18 , Autho–
rized Version). Another proverb
goes so far asto say, "There is a way
which seems right to a man, but its
end is the way of death' ' (Prov.
14: 12)! The painful truth is that
many of the decisions we humans
arrive at result in calamity.
Could it be that the Bible con–
tains more practica! information
about everyday living in the 20th
century than we may have previ–
ously thought?
This ancient book records that the
entire world, with all its evi ls, was
founded on a wrong decision, when
the first humans took of the tree of
the knowledgeofgood and evil in the
garden of Eden (Gen. 3: 1-6).
Adam and Eve, by that decision,
determined to choose for them–
selves
what was right and wrong
rather than heed the revelation of
their Creator, God. Humanity has
been following that same tragic
way ever since.
(If
you haven't al–
ready learned how this whole world
started off-track, write for our free
booklet
Never Before Under–
stood-Why Humanity Cannot
So/ve lts Evils.)
Perhaps you personally are right
now facing a major decision, but you
are paralyzed , unsure of which road
to take. Maybe you feel what poet
Annie Johnson Flint expressed in
"At the Place of the Sea":
Have you come to the Red Sea
place in your lije,
Where, in spite of al/ you can
do,
There is no way out, there is no
way back,
There is no other way but
through?
You know you 've got to do
something, but what should you
do? Are there principies you can
apply? What should Louis Jones
The
PLAIN TRUTH