“Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms-to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way.”
This is a critical truth taken from Viktor Frankl’s book, Man’s Search for Meaning.
Frankl was a holocaust survivor who was subjected to Nazi atrocities during WWII. He knew what it was to choose “one’s attitude” in the midst of horrific circumstances.
The greatest gift God gave mankind is our will – our ability to choose. No matter what, we can always choose what we think, what we believe, what we do. Sure, that’s not easy, but the capacity for mankind to make wise choices in the face of incomprehensibly difficult circumstances is astounding. And, the converse is true as well: the ability for mankind to make incredibly poor choices in the midst of the best of circumstances and influences is confounding.
So, if you were to do an inventory of your choices how would you fair? Probably a mix of wise and foolish choices I assume. We are all similar in that regard. However, maturity is to learn from our poor choices so we make less of them and make more wise choices. Foolish is the man who does not learn from his poor choices, and is, therefore, destined to repeat his mistakes.
We all have an equal opportunity to choose what we will think, believe and do. Awareness and education certainly play a significant role in our ability to make wise choices, but even in the midst of our ignorance we can choose to recognize we don’t know what we don’t know and then seek input from those wiser than us.
Regardless of the decisions we have made, the decisions we make, make us. We are all products of the decisions we make – what we embrace and what we reject. The decisions we have made have led us to where we are. We can choose life or death, blessings or curses. We can make decisions that lead to life, or ones that lead to death.
So how can we make more wise choices? It starts with taking responsibility for making decisions. We need to reject a victim mentality – believing it’s someone else’s fault. “It’s his fault.” “It’s her fault.” It’s their fault.” No. Life is less of what happens to us and far more of how we respond. It’s not about what happens to you, but how you choose to respond to it.
Are you a victim or victor?
We can choose courage and reject cowardice. We can choose forgiveness and reject bitterness. We can choose responsibility and reject passivity. We can choose to humble ourselves and receive God’s grace and reject pride. We can choose to ask for help and reject isolation.
In order to choose wisely we also need to recognize what we need to reject. We need to reject arrogance, isolation, cowardice, apathy, complacency, bitterness, resentment, hatred, self-pity and the like. However, what we need to primarily reject is the belief we can do this life without God.
The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. To fear the Lord is to believe what He says is true – He means what He says. To believe His Truth and not the lies of the enemy. Surrender to the sovereignty of God is the beginning of wisdom, and that is a life-long journey.
Is it possible this side of heaven to bat 1000 in regard to wise decisions? No. Should we even expect that of ourselves? Absolutely not. “Failure is simply an opportunity to begin more intelligently.” – according to Henry Ford, and I agree with him.
Can we improve our decision making batting average? Definitely, but it is impossible without humility. We must choose humility and surrender to the Lord. In addition though, it is imperative we humble ourselves to receive input from others. We need the input of others to enable us to grow in wisdom.
We are not going to get it right all the time, but we can choose to humble ourselves to learn from our mistakes – and that’s a wise decision.
1 Peter 6:5,6
“In the same way, you who are younger, submit yourselves to your elders. All of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, because, “God opposes the proud but shows favor to the humble.”Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time.”
Proverbs 1:7
“The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, but foolsdespise wisdom and instruction.”
Deuteronomy 30:19, 20A
“This day I call the heavens and the earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live and that you may love the Lord your God, listen to his voice, and hold fast to him.”