How to Uncover the Secret to a Life of Meaning

The Secret Key: Hidden in Plain Sight

Did you know you make an average of 35,000 decisions a day?

That's 245,000 decisions in a week, 980,000 in a month, and 11,760,000 in a year!

Small wonder you don't want to make one more decision!

Yet there is one secret key the Lord has hidden in plain sight that gives meaning, purpose,  and direction for every decision you make from now on:

Deuteronomy 30:19-20 NLT
Today I have given you the choice between life and death, between blessings and curses. Now I call on heaven and earth to witness the choice you make. Oh, that you would choose life, so that you and your descendants might live! You can make this choice by loving the LORD your God, obeying Him, and committing yourself firmly to Him. This is the key to your life. And if you love and obey the LORD, you will live long in the land the LORD swore to give your ancestors Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

and...

2 Peter 1:2-5a NLT
May God give you more and more grace and peace as you grow in your knowledge of God and Jesus our Lord. By His divine power, God has given us everything we need for living a godly life. We have received all of this by coming to know Him, the One who called us to Himself by means of His marvelous glory and excellence. And because of His glory and excellence, He has given us great and precious promises. These are the promises that enable you to share His divine nature and escape the world’s corruption caused by human desires. In view of all this, make every effort to respond to God’s promises.

The Response Matrix: The Secret to Confident Decisions

How We Make Decisions

Subconsciously, your mind weighs choices and impact all day. It grabs the readily accessible information you've planted in your mind and, with clarity, it plucks out the no-brainer choice. Unfortunately, it's when you feel a bit of confusion and have less information that the process slows down.

For instance, if you have a new eating program, you naturally slow down in your food choices until those decisions become automatic. When you are more comfortable with them, the mind shuttles them off to the subconscious region, making room for the conscious choices.

A new exercise plan? The process and procedure feel stunted and awkward until they become routine. Off they go to the back-side of the decision process.

Invariably, it's when you feel a bit of confusion and have less information that the process slows down. Obviously, when you feel off your game because of disappointment or failure, it's hard to make a choice. And this is where we get stuck - stifled - stagnant.

Why Choosing Life is the Secret

In Deuteronomy, the LORD makes it simple to understand that choosing life over death is the secret to a life of purpose. Without question, there is a vast difference between moving through the days as an unconscious human or moving head and heart first throughout the day.

When you feel stuck or stagnant, it's likely because you are experiencing a lack of progress or momentum in areas you deeply care about. Areas like your career, relationships, or personal well-being. As a result, a stalled career, unfulfilled personal goals, isolation from meaningful relationships, or even physical symptoms like fatigue, stress, and anxiety give you clues.

And when you've experienced a life-shifting experience of loss - whether it's in relationships, career or health, we naturally get a little afraid to move through life with much confidence. So, we put on the brakes. SCREEEEEECH.....

Unfortunately, this stagnation keeps you from engaging fully in life. It limits your ability to make confident decisions. And it can leave you feeling disconnected from your faith and identity. This gap between where you are and where you want to be creates a struggle to take the steps you need to close that gap. So, Lovely One, you feel confused, frustrated, indecisive, and dissatisfied. Am I on target.?

Living Unfettered

But when you address these areas of indecision, amazing things happen. Making a choice helps you make choices! You address the decision clutter and fog and suddenly...

Step by Step Using the Secret Key

Step 1: What decision is creating brain fog, confusion, or fear?

Step 2: What do you need to address the confusion? More information is usually the right response.

Step 3: Where can you get the information you need? Is it a person or a process? Can you search for books, the Bible, or the internet? Would a one-on-one conversation help or can you get what you need alone?

Step 4: Now that you have new information, how does it line up with the life goals you have for your future? Does this move you toward the path or away? If away, is it worth the risk of missing your goal? If toward, will you risk comfort to get it?

Faith Decisions

However, even when we don't have all the information we WANT, there are times we simply have to go forward in faith. And that's where Hebrews 11 comes in.

Hebrews 11:1-2 NKJV
Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.

I've done an in-depth study of this verse. (If you'd like my notes, let me know.)

But here is what it comes to...

In this context, evidence is PROOF, PERSUASION, an inner conviction that focuses on God confirming His word. 

It's all the way back to 2 Peter 1. God has given you - given me - EVERYTHING we need to live a godly (God-pursuing, God-trusting, God-honoring) life. What He asks for is a RESPONSE. And a response is proven by taking action.

You are the one who knows if, more often than not, you are experiencing a life below the dreams, visions and call of your life.

The amazing news is that through developing a deeper relationship with the LORD - growing in your knowledge of God and Jesus our Lord - you can receive all the great and precious promises of a life of life, and blessing (Deuteronomy 30:19

The Reasoning Loop