The Decision
“And men, if you make a mistake, I suspect God will use you there, too,” said Pastor Phil Haugen.
The occasion for Pastor Haugen’s memorable quote was an internship workshop in 2002, my final year of seminary. Several of us were anxious over the call process, especially over how to figure out which congregation to serve if we received multiple calls. God didn’t leave us alone, but we would have to make a difficult decision.
Decisions fill life. Some decisions are obvious. Some are difficult. Others are fraught with anxiety and implications. Still other decisions are painful, even if obvious. And other times you just don’t know what to do.
Bible School students agonize over the will of God in age-appropriate ways. We make a lot of decisions in our first two years out of high school, and students are learning to engage with God through His Word in more intentional, focused ways. One of the Bible verses students memorize at AFLBS is James 4:13-15, which says, “Come now, you who say, ‘Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit’—yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. … Instead you ought to say, ‘If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.’”
In James 4 God cautions against presumption. The mind of man plans, but God knows. Sometimes, though, Christians overthink God’s will. Decisions have consequences, and some of these decisions are big. But even in our weakness and failure God remains sovereign, and Christ’s death and resurrection sufficient. Decisions fill life, but we need not live in fear of missing out on God’s perfect plan.
If you get the big decisions right everything else will follow. That’s why we rejoice when students make the decision to invest two years of their lives becoming established in God’s Word for life in Jesus Christ. It is a decision that few regret, and one that forms the foundation for everything that lies ahead.
Start here. Go anywhere. Grounded in God’s Word.
Pastor Wade Mobley [AFLC Schools President]
This article first appeared in Kinship Magazine, Fall 2018 Edition.
Kinship is a magazine of the Free Lutheran Schools. Stay up to date on latest news, student stories, classroom highlights, and fun tidbits about life on the AFLBS and AFLTS campus.
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