Choices

This morning at the ophthalmologist's office, a black contraption was pressed up to my mother's eyes that contained a number of lenses the doctor could slide in sequence to ascertain which would be best for her prescription. Some lenses were definitely better than others, so the choice between A and B was easy. That's when it's fun.

But other lenses were so close that it was very hard to decide, hard to make a choice between the two with 100 percent certainty. In these cases, my mother had to do the best she could and take a stab at choosing-and hope that the doctor was smart enough to factor the "uncertainty element" into his final conclusion about appropriate eyewear for her.

As I sat in the office observing, I thought to myself that walking in the Spirit is sometimes like that. The Lord says:

"If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit" (Galatians 5:25).

There are some times when the Spirit's leading is very clear, and so our choices are certain: "Don't tell that joke." "Don't flirt with that man." "Read your Bible more."

But sometimes we have less than exhaustive assurance of the wisdom of an action: "Should I homeschool?" "Should I drop my work this morning and visit Mrs. Gliba in the nursing home?" "Should I take communion in that church I'm visiting?" "Should I pick up that hitchhiker who seems to be in distress?"

The reader may have firm opinions about any of these examples, but for someone else there may be just an 80 percent certainty. As C.S. Lewis observed in The Weight of Glory: "Moral decisions do not admit of mathematical certainty." The Lord knows and will render a perfect judgment, with all factors taken into account.

If a person has been abiding in Christ-with a life daily consecrated to Him, bathed in prayer, and drinking deep of His Word-he has the creative Holy Spirit living in him and can venture out safely on a limb for God. He will jealously protect His own.

And after all, the alternative to obeying an 80 percent impulse that you think is from God is to refuse an 80 percent impulse that you think is from God.