Life's Toughest Decision

Contrary to what many people think, life's toughest decision is not accepting Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Savior. It is whether to stay faithful to Him. Becoming born again is a relatively simple act, although the road leading up to it may be plenty rocky. Some people find it difficult to profess their decision in front of a crowd of people in a church. But once that is done, the hard part begins.

On the surface, staying faithful to Christ looks like thousands of individual decisions. The truth is that when you commit to following the Savior, you have to make the same decision over and over again: "Do I stay faithful to Jesus, or do I do this thing which I know is outside of His will for my life?" Your moment-to-moment decisions affect everything. They affect your spouse, your children, and your work.

If you work for a living, and nearly all of us do, that choice comes up far more often than you would like. On some jobs it's every day. The workplace has undergone a lot of changes over the past few decades. As foreign competition increases and many tasks are outsourced, ethics can get blurred. What once seemed a simple right-wrong decision has turned into right-wrong-gray area somewhere in between.

Our workplace decisions can be great or small, but they probably fall into the category of the corner butcher who puts his thumb on the scale to increase the price. That may seem funny, but even small acts of dishonesty are like termites eating away at your soul. When you lie or cheat or even just fudge a little on the truth, you make a huge statement as to your integrity. A person of integrity is one who makes right decisions based on his faith in Christ at every point.

Hebrews 12:1-2 says in part, "Let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith." Making right decisions in life based on your faith in Christ begins with daily keeping your eyes fixed on Jesus.

Proverbs 4:25-27 speaks clearly of how to be a person of integrity: "Let your eyes look straight ahead; fix your gaze directly before you. Give careful thought to the paths for your feet and be steadfast in all your ways. Do not turn to the right or the left; keep your foot from evil." In other words, look to Jesus and follow him!

People of true integrity, especially in positions of leadership, seem so few and far between today that we can't even name a half dozen of them. Outside of the church and ministry, can you even name five? Hard, isn't it?

So do you, as a Christian, have to sacrifice success to follow Jesus Christ? I don't think so. I think you make life's toughest decision, then you show others that you will not waver from it through your words or your actions. At some point in your career you have to make it clear what you will and will not stand for. Your spouse counts on it. Your children count on it. It’s who you are in Christ that should show itself every day. Maybe you'll have to forego a house and garage full of "toys" to do the right thing. But Jesus was not engaging in idle speculation when he asked, "What good will it be for a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul?" (Matthew 16:26, NIV).

Titus 2:7-8 states this truth clearly: "In everything set them an example by doing what is good. In your teaching show integrity, seriousness and soundness of speech that cannot be condemned, so that those who oppose you may be ashamed because they have nothing bad to say about us."

When you follow Christ in integrity, your family takes notice and you will become the spiritual leader in your home that you were meant to be. Be an example of Christ-like courage to the ones who love you most. Amen.