Planning Ahead
My youth group and I were talking about decision making last week. One of the points we discussed was how short-sightedness leads to bad decision making. Now that I think about it, January is a perfect demonstration of this truth.
The lines for loan applications at the bank are longer this month and so is a sense of panic among students who are trying to get into school. This after we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves during the festive season, braaing daily like we owned butcheries, drinking like we were born in breweries and spending that 13th cheque like a kid in a candy shop. We all didn't have the guarantee that we'd make it into the new year, but we sure hoped we would, it's just that some of us didn't plan what we'd do if we did, cause we'll, we're the 'YOLO generation'.
Short-sightedness is defined as the inability to see things clearly unless they are relatively close to the eyes. (It obviously refers to an eyesight disorder but it's not limited to it as many decisions reveal people to have been short-sighted in their minds). The keyword in this definition is 'clearly'. We all have an awareness of tomorrow but not all of us have a clarity of it that would allow us to plan ahead and make better decisions today. By clarity I do not mean knowing the details of what the future holds, but instead, knowing the details of what and where I want to be tomorrow. When I perceive that, I stand a better chance of making good decisions.
We studied Lot in Genesis 13. He had the opportunity of a lifetime, he had to make a decision that would impact the rest of his life. Abraham had given him the opportunity to choose the land he would occupy since they both were too blessed to occupy the same land. We are told that his eyes were drawn to the area that was well watered, the area near Sodom and Gomorrah before the destruction, and so he made his big move. Blind to what lay ahead, he paid no attention to the people who occupied the land. We are told that 'the men of Sodom were wicked and were sinning greatly against the Lord', and what good could come from that? The good land would be corrupted by the evil of these men. But Lot didn't see all this, that is why a few chapters later we find him running for his life from the sulfur that destroyed Sodom, leaving all his wealth behind.
That's the life you're bound to live if you'll be short-sighted with the decisions you make, you'll forever be running, trying to make an escape from the disaster you didn't see coming. As the Proverb goes, 'There is a way that seems right to a man, but in the end it leads to death.'
Like Paul, I pray that the eyes of your heart be enlightened; like Elisha I pray that your eyes will be opened so that you may see beyond your eyes reach the good and glorious things God has in mind for you so that you will choose only that which will comply with what you've come to see.
The lines for loan applications at the bank are longer this month and so is a sense of panic among students who are trying to get into school. This after we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves during the festive season, braaing daily like we owned butcheries, drinking like we were born in breweries and spending that 13th cheque like a kid in a candy shop. We all didn't have the guarantee that we'd make it into the new year, but we sure hoped we would, it's just that some of us didn't plan what we'd do if we did, cause we'll, we're the 'YOLO generation'.
Short-sightedness is defined as the inability to see things clearly unless they are relatively close to the eyes. (It obviously refers to an eyesight disorder but it's not limited to it as many decisions reveal people to have been short-sighted in their minds). The keyword in this definition is 'clearly'. We all have an awareness of tomorrow but not all of us have a clarity of it that would allow us to plan ahead and make better decisions today. By clarity I do not mean knowing the details of what the future holds, but instead, knowing the details of what and where I want to be tomorrow. When I perceive that, I stand a better chance of making good decisions.
We studied Lot in Genesis 13. He had the opportunity of a lifetime, he had to make a decision that would impact the rest of his life. Abraham had given him the opportunity to choose the land he would occupy since they both were too blessed to occupy the same land. We are told that his eyes were drawn to the area that was well watered, the area near Sodom and Gomorrah before the destruction, and so he made his big move. Blind to what lay ahead, he paid no attention to the people who occupied the land. We are told that 'the men of Sodom were wicked and were sinning greatly against the Lord', and what good could come from that? The good land would be corrupted by the evil of these men. But Lot didn't see all this, that is why a few chapters later we find him running for his life from the sulfur that destroyed Sodom, leaving all his wealth behind.
That's the life you're bound to live if you'll be short-sighted with the decisions you make, you'll forever be running, trying to make an escape from the disaster you didn't see coming. As the Proverb goes, 'There is a way that seems right to a man, but in the end it leads to death.'
Like Paul, I pray that the eyes of your heart be enlightened; like Elisha I pray that your eyes will be opened so that you may see beyond your eyes reach the good and glorious things God has in mind for you so that you will choose only that which will comply with what you've come to see.
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