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All of us will make at least a few big decisions in life. Sooner or later, we will all have to decide about what we will do to make a living, about marriage, where we will live, and the most far-reaching decision of all, what we shall do about our souls. Despite the importance of these big decisions, I am convinced that it is the little, everyday choices and decisions that are critical. They determine our daily direction and, in the final analysis, what we shall do about the big decisions.
No one sits down and arrives at the decision to become addicted to heroin or alcohol and then immediately arises to seek a generous supply of such a drug. The one who becomes an addict to these cruel taskmasters does so by making the seemingly small decision to take the first dose or the first drink. Then he makes another such decision and another until he becomes totally victimized. The fellow who is in prison on a 40-year sentence for armed robbery never set a goal or reached a major decision to spend 40 years in a penal institution. He may have started by shoplifting pencils and candy, then “graduated” to electronics equipment, then to burglary, car theft and finally to life-threatening robbery in broad daylight.
Has anyone ever consciously said (or even thought), “I plan to go to hell when I die and here is how I will do it”? I doubt it seriously. And yet, most people are traveling in the broad way that leads there without fail (Mat. 7:13–14). The problem occurred not in a big decision they made, but in the little, everyday choices that have formed the pattern of their lives: “Will I honor God?”; “Will I serve Christ?”; “Will I believe and obey the Bible?”; “What will I do about my soul?”, etc. Finally, they come to the end of life, unprepared to meet the Son of God in judgment and certain to hear Him say, “Depart from me, ye that work iniquity” (Mat. 7:21).
Has any Christian ever determined, “I plan to leave the church and desert Christ one of these days”? Yet, souls are doing this by the thousands. How does it happen? They decide to stay home and watch a television program on Wednesday night; they quit reading the Bible and praying every day because they are so “busy;” they go to the office party and are pressured into drinking; they start arguing with the Bible and saying, “Do I have to do this or that to be a Christian?” They decide that once a week is all they need to be in the assembly of the saints and when concerned brethren visit them, they are told to mind their own business. Thus, the big decision has been made to abandon the Lord and His church. Beware of the “little foxes that spoil the vines” (Song 2:15).
[Note: I wrote this article for, and it was published in The Edifier, weekly bulletin of Pearl Street Church of Christ, Denton, TX, June 21, 1984, of which I was editor.]
Attribution: From thescripturecache.com; Dub McClish, owner and administrator.
