Decisions, Decisions: The Role of Decision in Spiritual Formation

Occasionally I hear someone say something like this: “I thought I was a Christian at the time. It wasn’t until later that I realized I wasn’t.” Some people don’t know they’re not Christians until they choose not to be. Other people don’t know they’re not Christian until they choose to be. I have known people of both sorts.

Usually, this kind of thing happens because somewhere along the line the person has tacitly accepted the claims Jesus made about himself or at least the teaching of the Church about Jesus. He or she has received biblical information in a context where most of the people present believed it, and simply fell in with them. It was natural to assume what others – maybe parents or grandparents or friends – took for granted.

The person had information – not always very accurate information – and assumed that being in possession of that information made him or her a Christian. But information alone, and even the insight that information brings, cannot in itself make a person a Christian. There must also be a decision.

In last week’s article, I wrote that spiritual growth follows a path of insight, decision, and implementation. I examined the role that insight plays: where it comes from, how it can be delayed, and what we must do with it. Now it is necessary to think further about how the choices we make impact our progress in spiritual formation.

The prophet Joel cries out, “Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision!” (Joel 3:14). That’s pretty much where we live – in the valley of decision. God has so ordered things that any advance in the spiritual life requires us to make a decision.

But this needs to be put in context. If you research the subject of choice and decision-making in the Bible, you will find that a great deal of what the biblical writers said on the subject refers to choices that God makes. We assume it’s all about us, that our choice is all that matters, but that is not the case. His choices precede ours in time and importance. Yet his choices do not render ours void. Just the opposite: his choices make ours possible and even necessary.

There is no spiritual growth apart from choice. That’s the way God designed it. He has endowed us with astonishing dignity: our decisions mean something; they make a real difference. As does our failure to decide.

We see the importance of decision-making again and again in the Bible. It starts in the Garden, where Adam and Eve have a choice to make. God knows they will need to make a decision if they are ever to grow as people. Apart from decision, there is no growth. And we know that their future (and ours) hinges on the decision they make.

In Deuteronomy 30, the importance of choice is highlighted in a big way. Moses stands before the people of God – already God’s people because of the choice he made – and tells them they have a choice to make too: “This day I call heaven and earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life…” (Exodus 30:19). God does not say, “It doesn’t matter what you choose. I’m going to do what I’m going to do.” Rather he says, “Your decision is a matter of life and death.”

Throughout the Bible we see these two interdependent truths: God makes decisions and we make decisions. His decisions do not render ours pointless; they render them indispensable. And so, throughout the Scriptures we find the call to decision: “…choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve” (Joshua 24:15); “How long will you waver between two opinions? If the Lord is God, follow him! If Baal is God, follow him!” (1 Kings 18:21). We are presented with choices: “You cannot serve God and money,” (Matthew 6:24). And the most important decision of all: “What shall I do … with Jesus who is called Christ?” (Matthew 27:22)

(Next week, will look at a famous biblical example of tough decision-making.)