{"id":772,"date":"2014-02-19T13:47:28","date_gmt":"2014-02-19T18:47:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cindiferrini.com\/?p=772"},"modified":"2014-02-19T13:47:28","modified_gmt":"2014-02-19T18:47:28","slug":"we-are-all-one-step-from-a-bad-decision-wow-write-on-wednesday-takes-4-minutes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cindiferrini.com\/index.php\/2014\/02\/19\/we-are-all-one-step-from-a-bad-decision-wow-write-on-wednesday-takes-4-minutes\/","title":{"rendered":"WE ARE ALL ONE STEP FROM A BAD DECISION (WOW! Write.On.Wednesday. Takes 4 minutes.)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>It\u2019s not stretch to see that EACH OF US are but one step from a bad decision. It\u2019s amazing, but many of us justify a wrong and bad decision simply because we:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Feel we\u2019ve been wronged<\/li>\n<li>Want to get even with someone<\/li>\n<li>Choose to retaliate because we \u201cdidn\u2019t get our way\u201d<\/li>\n<li>Aren\u2019t happy<\/li>\n<li>Want something \u201cbetter\u201d or \u201cmore\u201d and we don\u2019t care who it hurts<\/li>\n<li>(_________________________)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The reality is this: we make decisions all day long. Some will be frivolous decisions that really don\u2019t make a huge difference, <strong><i>right<\/i><\/strong>?<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>What should I wear today?<\/li>\n<li>Where will I go to lunch?<\/li>\n<li>Who will I hang out with later?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong><i>Wrong!<\/i><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Our <i>every<\/i> decision makes a difference because we are always inching our way to that fine line between what (I used to tell my children) is FUN vs. FOOLISH, and RIGHT vs. WRONG. So what&#8217;s the problem you ask? The problem is we sometimes just don\u2019t know when we cross that line. For instance:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>It doesn\u2019t matter what we wear\u2026.unless we\u2019re wearing it \u201cfor\u201d someone to notice us, or if we\u2019re calling attention to something we shouldn\u2019t call attention to. That one decision can make or break the next choice we\u2019ll need to make\u2026.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>It doesn\u2019t matter where we go to lunch, unless we\u2019re meeting with whom we shouldn\u2019t.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>It doesn\u2019t matter with whom we\u2019re hanging out\u2026but if they\u2019re a bad vs. good influence it will certainly matter! If it\u2019s the kid who point us to trouble, the man or woman unhappy in their marriage and looking for something new and different &#8211; looking to us to fulfill a need (emotional or otherwise), or a friend who doesn\u2019t have the guts to call us out when we\u2019re sinning\u2026.we might not have the right influences to help vs. hinder or hurt us.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>These are all stepping over that gray line into the <i>wrong and the foolish. <\/i>We are often already heading in the wrong direction when these little decisions are made. Each decision, each step we take leads us somewhere. We don\u2019t always think ahead to where \u201csomewhere\u201d is. Sometimes we think if we\u2019ve made a wrong decision there&#8217;s no turning back, but that&#8217;s wrongful thinking, too.<\/p>\n<p>Why do we do that? Why do we take these steps knowing that we\u2019re wrong, knowing that we\u2019re hurting others and God? Perhaps because we\u2019re:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Afraid we won\u2019t be liked.<\/li>\n<li>Thinking we need to be politically correct.<\/li>\n<li>Wanting to be happy and <i>think<\/i> this will fill that void.<\/li>\n<li>Unable and don\u2019t know how to stop.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>As I see it: WE.ALL.NEED.TO.GROW.UP.<\/p>\n<p>God will not be mocked. \u201cDo not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, this he will also reap.\u201d We can\u2019t plant apples and expected oranges.<\/p>\n<p>If we dress a certain way\u2026we can expect others to treat us a certain way (play out various scenarios in your mind.)<\/p>\n<p>If we meet with others we shouldn\u2019t, we can expect that it isn\u2019t going to turn out positively.<\/p>\n<p>When we take over when God should be at the helm, steering us in the right direction, we simply can\u2019t expect all good, warm fuzzy, happy, positive things to happen. There will be consequences. God will not be mocked.<\/p>\n<p>The bible says, \u201cLike a dog that returns to its vomit, is a fool who repeats his folly.\u201d (Proverbs 26:11) If that somehow makes us think about the wrong decisions we\u2019re making (and it should!) we can go to the book of Proverbs in the Bible &#8211; studying and underlining the words <i>foolish, wicked, folly,<\/i> and then follow it up with the words <i>wisdom, counselor,<\/i>\u00a0and<i>\u00a0good.<\/i>\u00a0HOWEVER, we\u2019ll only look up these words when we\u2019re:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Willing to stop mocking God.<\/li>\n<li>Serious about dealing with our sin.<\/li>\n<li>Ready to ask Him for forgiveness and make things right.<\/li>\n<li>Desiring to make restitution for our sin.<\/li>\n<li>Wanting to make relationships right again, that we ruined (or are in the process of ruining).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>We can play out many scenarios in our minds as to how we got to where we are: adultery, lying, cheating, drugs, addictions, pornography, gossiping, hateful actions, murder, (<span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">fill in the blank<\/span>).<\/p>\n<p>No one can <i>make us<\/i> make a good decision; that\u2019s the choice we individually have to make\u2026and it looks like we have that opportunity right now as WE ARE ONE STEP FROM A BAD DECISION. None of us are exempt. What choice will you make?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>It\u2019s not stretch to see that EACH OF US are but one step from a bad decision. It\u2019s amazing, but many of us justify a wrong and bad decision simply because we: Feel we\u2019ve been wronged Want to get even with someone Choose to retaliate because we \u201cdidn\u2019t get our way\u201d Aren\u2019t happy Want something [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-772","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cindiferrini.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/772","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cindiferrini.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cindiferrini.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cindiferrini.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cindiferrini.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=772"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cindiferrini.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/772\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cindiferrini.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=772"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cindiferrini.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=772"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cindiferrini.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=772"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}