Purpose & Calling
I have two good options and neither of them is wrong. How do I choose when God does not seem to mind either way?
“And Abram said unto Lot, Let there be no strife, I pray thee, between me and thee, and between my herdmen and thy herdmen; for we be brethren. Is not the whole land before thee? separate thyself, I pray thee, from me: if thou wilt take the left hand, then I will go to the right; or if thou depart to the right hand, then I will go to the left.”
Abram and Lot's herdsmen are quarrelling over land that cannot support both households. Abram, the elder man with the promise and the right to choose first, hands the decision to his nephew and takes whatever is left over. He is not paralysed trying to work out which valley God intended. He resolves it with generosity, and the promise reaches him anyway.
“All things are lawful for me, but all things are not expedient: all things are lawful for me, but all things edify not.”
Paul is answering Corinthians who kept quoting their own slogan about freedom back at him, mostly in connection with food offered to idols. He does not deny the freedom they claim. He shifts the question from what is permitted to what actually builds people up, which is a far more useful test when nothing on the table is forbidden.
A path forward
Stop asking which option is right and ask which one leaves you more useful, more available and more like Christ in five years.
Ask who each option serves besides you. When the moral weight is equal, love is the tiebreaker.
Choose one, commit it to God in prayer, and stop revisiting it. He is well able to lead a person who is moving, and the fear of choosing wrong costs more than the choice does.
Closing verse
“He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake.”
- Psalm 23:3
Coming Soon
Want to ask your own question?
Revealed is building a feature that lets you ask anything and receive a Bible-rooted response drawn from both Testaments. Join the waitlist to be first to know when it launches.