What to Do When You Don't Know What to Do!

Part 3

Edgardo in Honduras asked this question and it was a good one.   I liked this question so much I framed a sermon around it, and I was going to deliver that message last Sunday, but I changed the topic at the very last minute.   But to get back to the question.   Well, there are several things that you can do.   And here are a few of the best ones.

1. Check who influences you the most.    What in the world does this mean?   Well, we are influenced by a horde of things all around us all the time.   For instance: we are influenced by the weather.   If it is hot and sticky outside I am sure you will be influenced not to wear a heavy coat.   If it is raining then you might chose to take and umbrella with you.   We are influenced by lines painted on the floor or the rope fencing that is in your bank.   If there is a line painted on the floor we will generally follow it, or if there is rope fencing we usually will stay within its' boundaries.   We just somehow feel that we ought to.    So I believe all of us would feel comfortable in saying, "OK, I see your point."   So yes we are influenced by the world we live in.   You may not have thought about this before, but did you know that there are things that we really don't pay attention to, but they are placed into our lives to specifically condition us one way or another.   Commercials seek to influence to buy this or that.   News reports are specifically worded one way or another in order to influence how we think about this or that.   We may not even think about it, but we are subtly influenced one way or another simply by the pictures posted around it or the words they chose to use in describing it.  As well, there are some huge influencers in our lives that may have been put there by people with evil intentions.   People with the intention to do you harm and not to bless your life.  Why would they do that?   For profit.   Or maybe fame.   Or it could be that if they influence youto do wrong then there will be less shame in what they do.   Well, what could they use to influence me?

• Perhaps music.   What?   I love music.   I listen to it all the time.   I looked this morning on my phone and there are 867 songs listed in its' music library.   No matter where I am going or what I am doing, there always seems to be background music playing softly.   
• Perhaps tv/movies.   What?  I love movies -- especially action movies like the Bourne Series or Iron Man.   I just love to veg through an hour and 1/2 of action packed stunts and drama.    
• Novels - self help books.   Again -- what?   I love reading -- especially right before going to bed.   My favorites are action books.   War books.   Spy novels.   Anything by Chancey.   Those kinds of books.   

What do you mean preacher?   I just listen to those things, watch those things, and read those things they don't influence me at all.   I make my own decisions.  Well, we have all heard in interviews where musicians, actors and writers are just wanting to "push the boundaries."   Push the limits!   Why are they pushing the boundaries?   Are they just trying to advance the culture?   Or are they trying to make money by being wilder - crazier - showier?   Many of the songs that we allow into our cars, iPods, and radios celebrate pre-marital sex.  They celebrate dissolved relationships.   They sing about going your own way instead of following the rules.   On television we now allow into our homes -- into our living rooms -- porn.   When we read books before going to bed at night we are allowing thoughts from possibly unGodly people into our heads to soak in overnight.   Think romance novel.   One fantasizes about that perfect person that completes you, and desires you and says all the right things, but there you are sleeping just inches away from someone who snores and threw their socks across the room and didn't hit the dirty-cloths hamper.  We have allowed the boundaries of sinful people into our own homes, and it doesn't take long in that type of conditioning before what we used to think impossible for us is now possible.   Someone once told me that they were against pre-marital sex, but this very young lady got pregnant as a High School Cheerleader anyway.   Another once told me they were against abortions, but when they were in a position with a problem they were now considering it as a viable option to solve their problem. Well, why were they swayed from what they had been taught by mom and dad and their church, and something they themselves thought was their personal boundary? Because they were conditioned to think that certain sins were alright.   By listening to certain music and watching certain shows and reading certain books that they allowed inside their personal space.   When they did this their boundaries were subtely shifted.    And what they once thought wrong now seemed not quite so wrong.   

But there are more influencers in our lives than just those three.   Friends influence us -- usually more than we influence them.     So who are you hanging around with?   

So in order to discover what to do when you don't know what to do check who influences you first.   What are you watching or reading or listening to?   These are who you are following.    I can guarantee you this: If you spend more time listening to uplifting music; and you re-think what you allow into your home via internet or across the air-waves; and you reconsider what you read  at night, and then surround yourself with Godly men and women I promise you that you path will seem clearer, and your decisions will be more sure.

The next step to knowing what to do is to pray.    Ask for wisdom.   The Bible says that God will give it to you.  {James 1:5}   

Another step is to ask wise-counselors what they would do in the same situation.    Well, who are wise-counselors.   Wise counselors are those who have been there and done that.   Wise counselors are Jesus Followers who truly live out what they believe.   Their faith is obvious.   Wise counselors have nothing at all to gain from the advice they give to you.   Wise counselors keep confidences.  Wise counselors will not suggest anything at all that goes against the principles that are taught in the Bible.    

The last step in knowing what to do is for me the hardest step.   It is hard to wait.   Psalm 27:14 Wait for the LORD; be strong and take heart and wait for the LORD.   Two times David said to wait.    I suppose there is something to that.    

Blessings,

Steve