6/7 Strength for Today

Making the Best of a Bad Decision

Acts 22:1
“Men, brethren, and fathers, hear ye my defence which I make now unto you.”

As great of a Christian as the Apostle Paul was, at the best he was still human and capable of sin. We find this to be true from the story in the verse above. The Apostle Paul foolishly took a Jewish oath, which was only for those who were trying to get saved by keeping the law. Paul knew better because he had preached sermons about separation and salvation through grace. Paul's burden for the Jewish people moved him to take this oath hoping that he could reach them by identifying with them. He found out the hard way that God's methods are the best methods. Because of this Jewish oath, he ended up in prison, and as far as we know, spent the rest of his life in bondage until his execution.

One great lesson we can learn from Paul's life in the verse above is that he made the best out of a bad decision. Though Paul's foolish decision caused him to end up bound and in prison, he still made the best of it by witnessing to people every chance he had. He witnessed to those in prison with him, he witnessed to the guards guarding him and he witnessed to the judges hearing his case. Paul didn't let his bad decision stop him; instead, he made the best out of what he had left.

This story reminds me of a young man I recently counseled. He told me how he had surrendered to preach and went to Bible college and graduated. While at college, he met a young lady whom he eventually married. Through several bad decisions, this couple ended up divorced. This young man looked at me as though he had no hope to do anything for Christ. I told him that God could still use him and that he needed to make the best out of his situation.

Let's face it; we all make bad decisions in life that we wish we could undo. If there were only a redo button in life many heartaches could be averted. The problem is, there is no redo button to press when we have made a bad decision. When you make these bad decisions in life, you cannot let these decisions stop you from serving God. When you have made a bad decision, you need to learn to keep doing right and make the best out of your bad decision. When you stop serving God because of a bad decision, you are only going to compound the problem.

Though you can't change your past decisions, learn to make the best out of a bad decision by doing right in your current state. Moses did this in his life, Samson did the same in his life, and certainly you should be no different than them.

Do your best to avoid making foolish and bad decisions, but when you do, make the best out of those situations by doing right. God can and will use you no matter what you have done. So, don't quit on God! Keep serving Him and do right in your present condition, and watch the blessings of God pour into your life.