Decisions

Decisions The Dividing Line
Lines are everywhere! There are lines in parking lots to designate the parking spaces. There are lines drawn at intersections so that pedestrians know where to cross the street. There are little, but important, lines drawn on rulers to show units of measure. There are lines drawn on baseball diamonds, basketball courts, and football fields to help the players and referees know if the balls, and players, are in or out.
Lines can be very important. They help us know where we stand. We are either on one side of the line or the other.
Exodus 32 tells us that Moses drew a line. Here's why: God's people had participated in a drunken party and had worshiped a golden calf. Drunken idolaters! Moses knew that God demands that people love, obey and worship only Him. In a very courageous move, Moses stepped in front of all those people and drew a line by saying, "Who is on the Lord's side? Let him come to me...." (Exodus 32:26). That day, many crossed the line by standing with Moses and the Lord.
Jesus, too, drew a line when He called those from the multitude to follow Him. Jesus' words make a very clear line: either you are for Christ or you are against Him. That same line exists today. We must decide on which side of that line we will stand.
Many choose to stand on both sides of the line. And for those individuals Jesus replies, "I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot; I would thou wert cold or hot. So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth" (Revelation 3:15-16). There is no middle ground with the Lord. In fact, for those who try, it makes Him sick to His stomach. Take a stand on God's side.

Dangers of Homogeneous Group Decisions
The more members of a group like and respect one another, the more probable it is they will make a poor decision. A well-known example of the dangers of this unhealthy group orientation took place during the John F. Kennedy administration. A faulty decision caused the defeat of American forces in the invasion of Cuba at the Bay of Pigs, embarrassing the President and the nation.
President Kennedy had surrounded himself with a committee of some of the shrewdest advisors in the country. This group of experts didn't make a poor decision because of low IQs. They failed because they wanted to be liked by others in the group. They allowed friendship and loyalty to overwhelm their decision-making process.
Advisors who were tempted to speak up in opposition to the attack decided against it out of fear of being disliked, or because they didn't want to waste everyone's time. In a memorandum written before the committee assembled, Arthur Schlesinger, one of the members of the Kennedy inner circle, acknowledged that he considered the invasion of Cuba a mistake. But he kept silent when he participated in the discussion. Robert Kennedy, the President's brother and the U.S. attorney general, got Schlesinger in the corner after discovering that he opposed the invasion. Kennedy put it bluntly, "Arthur, you may be right or you may be wrong, but the president has made up his mind. Don't push any further." Schlesinger kept quiet. The environment wasn't right for voicing dissent.

Don't Ignore the Less Experienced
America's Supreme Court has an interesting custom. The newest member of the court speaks his or her mind on a decision first. Then the next newest speaks. This continues until all of the members have spoken, and then the Chief Justice speaks last. In that way, no one is held back by fear of differing with the opinion of a more experienced judge. This wouldn't be a bad idea for most of our churches or business committees to follow. The Cost of Indecision
Former President Ronald Reagan says he learned the need for decision-making early in life. An aunt had taken him to a cobbler to have a pair of shoes made for him. The shoemaker asked young Ronald Reagan, "Do you want a square toe or a round toe?"
Reagan hemmed and hawed. So the cobbler said, "Come back in a day or two and let me know what you want."
A few days later the shoemaker saw Reagan on the street and asked what he had decided about the shoes. "I still haven't made up my mind," the boy answered. "Very well," said the cobbler.
When Reagan received the shoes, he was shocked to see that one shoe had a square toe and the other a round toe.
"Looking at those shoes every day taught me a lesson," said Reagan years later. "If you don't make your own decisions, somebody else will make them for you!"
The sovereign God has made us people, not puppets. We have His Word to guide us, His love to redeem us, and His assurance that we are capable of making choices.