TAKE YOUR TIME TO DECIDE

DAY 347 OF 365 IN 2021

Matthew 21:25-27a About the baptism of John—who authorized it: heaven or humans?”They were on the spot and knew it. They pulled back into a huddle and whispered, “If we say ‘heaven,’ he’ll ask us why we didn’t believe him; if we say ‘humans,’ we’re up against it with the people because they all hold John up as a prophet.” They decided to concede that round to Jesus. “We don’t know,” they answered.

Among the people I admire in scripture, there are the good guys and those we may refer to as the bad guys. In the Gospel, we have many antagonists who fought Jesus every step of the way. However, there are times when the stories of these antagonists provoke a level of thinking and surprise that makes me stop and ponder on their choices.

Today for instance, I marvel at their attention to detail and their consciousness of the big picture. All Jesus asked was one question: ‘ was the baptism of John from heaven or from man?’ They thought their way through the question with multiple scenarios and their likely outcomes before arriving at an answer that was neutral ‘we do not know’.

Eventually, although they did not get an answer to the question which they posed to Jesus, they avoided a situation that would compromise their status. They considered all the permutations, if A, then B would result, if C then D would happen so let’s go for E.

When we sit down to think through or solicit opinions regarding certain decisions, some people would think we are wasting time and should speed up. However, with such careful consideration, we are often able to highlight certain dimensions or outcomes that could be missed that  would otherwise have a negative impact on the expected outcome.

So don’t be forced or rushed into baking every decision, think it through, talk it through with another person for by doing so, things you may have missed will come to light. Beloved, take your time to come to a decision, besides you are the one impacted most by that choice.

#sly