Decisions Have Consequences

2 Chronicles 28:23

For he sacrificed unto the gods of Damascus, which smote him: and he said, Because the gods of the kings of Syria help them, therefore will I sacrifice to them, that they may help me. But they were the ruin of him, and of all Israel.

Nobody can destroy you but you. You destroy yourself by the bad decisions you make, and nobody makes you to make those decisions. Ahaz found this truth out when he chose to make the gods of the kings of Syria his trust instead of trusting Jehovah God. The Scripture says that when he trusted the gods of the kings of Syria for his help that they were the ruin of him. The same decision he made to trust the gods of the kings of Syria could have been made to trust Jehovah God. Had he trusted Jehovah God like he did the gods of the kings of Syria, his decision would not have led to his ruin, but to God’s help and blessings.

Every day we are faced with decisions that will either lead to our ruin or to God's blessings on our lives. Every person is one decision away from making a decision that can ruin what God's blessings are doing in our lives. Decisions have consequences. Decisions will either ruin you or make something great out of you. You must be careful with your decisions. Let me share four things to avoid when it comes to making decisions.

First, don't make a decision out of spite. Many have decided to do something to spite someone only to find that the decision they made became their ruin. Making decisions by spite is making a decision to hurt someone because you want to get revenge. Spite will cloud your ability to see the horrible consequences of your decision. Spite may allow you to win in the present, but it will cause you to lose in the future. You cannot make decisions with spite without it hurting your relationships and life.

Second, don't make decisions with haste. Many have been very quick to make decisions only to hurt their future. I am sure we have all been guilty of this at times, and we can all look and see that hasty decisions are the decisions that have caused us the most stress and hurt in our lives. You must take time to make decisions. Never be pressured into making a hasty decision. Yes, there are some decisions that must be made immediately, but most good decisions will wait for you to make the right decision in time.

Third, don't make decisions by feelings. Your feelings depend on emotion and not on principle. Most emotion leads to bad decisions. Every decision must be based on the principles of God's Word or the principles of decisions from the past that either you have made or others have made. When you allow your feelings to control your decisions, you will find that your life will be a mess, and it will hinder you from being for God what He needs you to be. Set your feelings aside when it comes to making a decision and allow principles to guide you in your decision-making.

Fourth, don't make decisions without considering God. Every decision must have God at the center of it. If any decision pulls you away from what God wants you to do, that decision may benefit you in the present, but it will hurt you in the future. God is to be the center of our lives, and that is why we must base our decisions on whether God is involved with the decision we make. Always look to see if your decision agrees with God’s Word; you will never make a bad decision if you base it on the Scriptures.