Decisions
- Michael Haldas
- Oct 30, 2025
- 4 min read
“Our life consists of decisions and their implementation. Man is a decision-making being, and he acts or does not act in accordance with his decisions. Indecision is also a decision, just as inaction is also an action. There are no fruitless decisions and actions. After all, everything has its own result: a barren fig tree has one, and a ripe vine has another. All decisions and actions—both active and passive, whether we want it or not—have a direct effect on the course of our entire life and our entire personality, in one way or another determining its spiritual, mental and physical state—the essential that it lives by. There is a choice behind every decision and subsequent action. This choice, with all the external and internal factors influencing it, is fundamentally free, since it is made by our God-given free will. We are free because God, Who created us in His image and likeness, is free. The freedom of our created will is like the freedom of the uncreated will of the Creator.” (Priest Tarasiy Borozenets)
“Perhaps Paul is suggesting [Galatians 1: 3-5] that even if we Christians get caught up in our own sins, Christ still delivers us from the effects of sin in the world over which we have little control. The evil or sinful or fallen world influences our decisions and behavior, but God forgives us for these sins which result from the pressures of the fallen world and our inability to know what is right or to do the right. God realizes we have a hard time knowing what is right and good because our sense of things is so distorted by the fallen world that we really can’t think straight, or correctly. Many things appear ambiguous to us morally and thus we don’t accurately assess what God wants us to do in a particular situation. God will not hold this against us but rather delivers us from this evil influence at work in the fallen world. Christianity is a refuge from the fallenness of the world. Many of us have been spiritually wounded by this world, God embraces us like the Good Samaritan did the wounded man traveling to Jericho. Whether the victim’s intentions in going to Jericho were good or bad, right or wrong, doesn’t matter, for Christ comes to deliver us from this evil age and its effects on our lives.” (Fr. Ted Bobosh)
“… we know that we do not truly have the Lord’s mind. We labor to gain even a small particle of the mind of the Lord! Nevertheless, the Holy Spirit lives in the Church. The essential elements of Christ’s views on wealth, life, death, and eternal salvation are well known to us. The decisions we face each day, along with the demands thrust upon us by outward circumstances, provide us with many opportunities to exercise the mind that is in the Lord.” (Dynamis 11/22/2020)
“We never make ethical decisions alone. Our moral judgments, and the actions consequent upon them, are always made within the living Body of the Church. Through our baptism, we are incorporated into one another; we become ‘members one of another.’ The decisions I make affect and influence the Body as a whole. Just as my own sinfulness has consequences not only for my family and friends but for the entire community, so my ethical decisions and their consequences involve and affect the entire ‘communion of saints.’” (Fr. John Breck)
“But what is our soul? Our soul is not an idea associated with the sense of our conscience. The Fathers of the Church call ‘soul’ the spiritual, the immaterial, the invisible essence of our existence. It is created…has intellect and logic, it is unformed, uncomplicated, good, and kind, it is expressed through the body, and gives life to the body. The same way the brain is our body’s coordinator, the soul is our will’s coordinator. This is where all the decisions are made for the brain to follow. It is also the coordinator of our higher emotions. Of love, respect, hope, joy, fear. When our body suffers, our soul suffers also. When the soul suffers, our body is also troubled.” (Bishop Emilianos)
“In life we make our way by a series of decisions: taking one step rather than another, acting or refraining from acting, entering or leaving situations, accepting or rejecting offers and opportunities. We constantly move, from moment to moment, on the basis of choices. Of all God’s earthly creatures, humanity alone has the personal dignity of choosing and shaping life…by God’s grace we strive not make decisions impulsively. Rather, we modify our actions in response to the prompting of the Spirit.” (Dynamis 7/21/2018)
“Trusting God is a decision, not a feeling…Happiness is not based on your circumstances, but on a decision you make…Love is not a feeling we have; it’s a decision to treat people the way Jesus would treat them…Because of the Holy Spirit’s witness and illumination, you never have to be alone in your decisions—but this is true only as long as you’re seeking the mind of God and wanting to do His will." (Dan Walsh, Jesus Saves – Godly Life, Tony Evans)
“We want to do God’s will, but we are not always sure what this involves. Sometimes we make a decision that we feel is right but then circumstances change after we come upon an unexpected fork in the road, and we do not know what to choose...God knows that we do not know everything. He designed it this way, so that we would have more faith in Him rather than relying only on ourselves…God will not force itself upon a person, even to save his or her soul. Rather, God and His servants respect the gift of free will so much that they will only guide and guard and leave the decision to the individual.” (Anne Marie Gazzolo)
“Whatever fills our minds will come out in our actions and decisions…We make the decision as to whether the events of our life will serve as stepping stones or stumbling blocks.” (Michael Youssef, Maxie Dunnam)
“Our lives are comprised of thousands of small daily decisions and actions: how we treat others, how we use our money, what we do with our abilities, where we invest our time, and what example we set for others to see. Before God will call you to something greater, He first wants to see what you have done in the small things.” (Richard Stearns)
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