Harold Kushner tells a cautionary story about the man who invented the transistor radio. 

He was headed to a convention and stopped at a restaurant to have something to eat. There was another family there. He noticed that each one of them had one of his inventions. As a result, no one was talking to one another. He immediately regretted what he had created.*

Decisions tend to have consequences. It was true for the inventor of the transistor radio, and it’s true for us.

Having said that, our situations are different from his. But in our own time and place each of us makes decisions. One of the things we share in common with that inventor is that our decisions often have consequences down the line. Sometimes we can anticipate them; sometimes we can’t.

This isn’t to make you feel bad. Even as you read or listen to this you can probably think of one decision (or many) which have had negative consequences. It happens to everyone, including me.

The point here is to encourage you to think proactively about the biblical proverb from Galatians 6:7 as it relates to decision-making: “A man reaps what he sows.” ‘Will this decision lead me closer to God, or further away?’ ‘Is this decision true to who Jesus calls me to be, or does it come from a place of selfishness?’ ‘Will this help those I love, or hurt them down the line?’

In Galatians, Paul goes on to write these words in verses 8 and 9: “Whoever sows to please their flesh, from the flesh will reap destruction; whoever sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life. Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.”

The man who invented the transistor radio probably didn’t anticipate what he saw in that restaurant. We too can’t anticipate or predict every detail about the future. But we can make decisions prayerfully, faithfully, and with both eyes (metaphorically) open. 

‘Will this decision lead me closer to God, or further away?’
‘Is this decision true to who Jesus calls me to be, or does it come from a place of selfishness?’
‘Will this help those I love, or hurt them down the line?’ 

As we make decisions which impact both the future and the people around us, let us sow with thoughtfulness, faith, grace, and truth.

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Notes:

–*Harold Kushner, Who Needs God? (Fireside: New York, 1989), 92.

–Bible quotes are from the NIV.