A FRAMEWORK TO GUIDE CHOICES

Acts 6:3 Brothers and sisters, choose seven men from among you who are known to be full of the Spirit and wisdom. We will turn this responsibility over to them.

Whenever we are have choices to make, the more information we have, the more clarity we possess to make those choices. In that regard, we often refer to the word of God as the compass to guide the our decisions. However, the word of God is not always very explicit about what we need to do.

Answers to questions such as ‘what do I wear today’, or ‘who do I marry are not answered explicitly’. Hence, in those circumstances, God provides outlines and principles that guide our decisions. In our text today, the Apostles recommended to the community to choose a team of seven to serve the tables. Instead of providing names, they provided a framework and criteria “seven men full of the Spirit and Wisdom”.

We see a similar framework at play when they were seeking another to take the place of  Judas Iscariot: “Therefore, it is to choose one of the men who of have been with us the whole time the Lord Jesus was living among us, beginning from John’s baptism to the time when Jesus was taken up from us”( Acts 1:21-22). That was the criteria.

Like it is applied in clinical settings, principles and frameworks provide a structure through which decisions can be made. Scripture may not be explicit on some matters, but it isn’t silent either. Search it to find your answers.

#sly