People avoid making difficult decisions.
I know I do.
Especially the decisions we know, somewhere deep down, would ultimately make us better.
We stall. We rationalize. We wait for the right time, the right feeling, the right circumstances. We know something needs to change, but instead of changing it, we tolerate it.
And eventually, doing nothing becomes the decision.
The problem is that life doesn't stop moving just because we refuse to choose.
When we decide not to take care of something, circumstances eventually begin making decisions for us.
Don't take care of your health? Eventually your health may dictate what you can and cannot do.
Don't address your finances? Eventually your finances start determining your choices.
Don't deal with a struggling relationship? Eventually the relationship may make the decision for you.
Don't confront an addiction? Eventually the addiction starts deciding where you go, what you do, who remains in your life, and ultimately who you become.
Don't make the difficult change at work? Eventually someone else may make it for you.
There is a saying in the health and wellness world:
Invest in your health today, or you'll invest in your doctors tomorrow.
That's bigger than physical health.
Invest in your marriage today.
Invest in your children today.
Invest in your spiritual life today.
Invest in your recovery today.
Invest in your character today.
Invest in becoming the person you know you're capable of becoming—today.
Because we love to kick the can down the road.
But eventually, you become the can.
You've been kicked so far down the road by your own avoidance that you're no longer deciding where you're going. Life is deciding for you.
God didn't create us to live paralyzed by fear.
Scripture repeatedly calls us toward courage:
“Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.” — Joshua 1:9
Notice that God doesn't promise Joshua an easy road.
He tells him to walk it.
That's faith.
Faith isn't sitting still waiting for God to eliminate every obstacle before we move. Sometimes faith is making the difficult decision while trusting that God will meet us on the other side of it.
And as Christians, we have an even greater example.
Jesus already did the part we could never do for ourselves.
He faced the cross. He accepted the suffering. He made the sacrifice that opened the way to eternal life.
He did the hard part.
Maybe our responsibility is to stop asking God to make every difficult thing easy and start asking Him for the courage to do what we already know needs to be done.
Make the call.
Have the conversation.
Go to the doctor.
Ask for help.
Get sober.
Forgive.
Apologize.
Leave what is destroying you.
Begin what you've been afraid to begin.
Take the first step.
Because refusing to make a decision doesn't protect us from consequences.
It simply hands the decision over to someone—or something—else.
So ask yourself:
What decision have I been avoiding because I'm afraid of what happens if I make it?
Then ask the harder question:
What happens if I don't?
God has already given us the greatest reason to live courageously.
Now we have to move.
Make the decision—or eventually, one will be made for you.
