| “If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you.” |
| —James 1:5 |
Proper decision making requires four very distinct, but necessary, qualities:
- Knowledge
- Wisdom
- Understanding
- Discernment
The only possible way to make the right decision, except by mere chance, is to employ all four of these qualities, balanced within the context of the four human modalities: emotional, spiritual, intellectual, and physical—or, heart, soul, mind, and strength.
- Knowledge provides all of the factual information needed to make a decision
- Wisdom takes into consideration the factual information that Knowledge provides and adds into the factual information one’s emotional connections, or feelings, about those facts
- Understanding considers the effect that the decision will have on the broadest possible context of the situation, or circumstances, involved
- Discernment adds a spiritual, or supernatural, dimension to the decision-making process—it sees beneath the surface and interprets the motives and true agendas of others involved in, or affected by, the potential decision
If we fail to employ all four of these qualities, balanced within the context of the four human modalities, we can significantly diminish the “rightness” of the decision we make. That’s why we should always do our best to become as knowledgeable as possible, obtaining all the facts relevant to the potential decision. We should not rely on what we are told second-hand. We should always seek out first sources and rely on multiple sources to validate the facts we collect.
We should study those facts until we see how they all fit together. Then, we need to have wisdom to understand how the facts interconnect with our feelings about the facts. Sometimes, that’s the hardest part of the decision-making process: correlating the facts and our feelings about the facts. That’s likely why the Apostle James wrote these words to the early Christians, as recorded in James 1:5:
If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you.
God is the “Wisdom Giver.” He is the one who can best correlate for us the facts and our feelings about the facts. In any, and every, situation, God’s guidance will help us make the best decision that we can make.
Finding God-given wisdom will help give us understanding of the context in which we must make our decision. Finally, we must rely on the Holy Spirit to give us discernment, so that we will know the motives and agendas of others, and even more clearly know our own motive and agenda.
So, as we begin another new day, let’s do what James suggests. Let’s ask God for wisdom for this day and every day. Let’s ask the One who loves us the most to give us this important quality. He will gladly do so. And, as a result, we can move forward employing all four qualities necessary to make excellent decisions.
