I’m a great advocate of moving on… of taking the next step… of not being held captive by errors and sins… of learning from the mistakes. I still believe this, but I didn’t mention making that step ‘better’ than where you are. It was, obviously, implied but the How wasn’t. I’m also patience deficient. I always want to learn/know/be/do… NOW! Now is not always defined in terms of ‘best’. So I’m trying to ‘learn’ and apply patience. Never easy for an action oriented type.
I somehow believe that ‘right’ next step is time sensitive in certain situations. Let me use learning patience as an example. I do believe that this is definitely a character trait to pursue. I’ve learned that it is never instantaneous and is never a one and done. We are always being tested – not always by our enemy, sometimes it’s us, the action necessary thus timing, circumstances, our preparing for (fill in the blank), etc. We may be given understanding prior to activating the next step so that we take the time to prepare in advance.
The ‘right’ next step is always individually ‘sculpted’. I think this is true even when we all are basically learning the same lesson because our experience, understanding, maturing is individual. What you have or are going through is rarely the same as the next person though, to repeat, the lesson is the same. I believe we are all on a journey to perfection. I also don’t believe we ever fully attain it until we are once again home.
So how to handle our ‘right’? How do we know? We aren’t left without ‘equipment’, understandings to guide us. Prayer. Study. Reading the Word and applying what is said to the the particular issue you are responding to. Another tool is seeking the advice of more mature Christians as is indicated in Proverbs (11:14, 15:22) which teaches us that advice will aid us. But you also have to use the wisdom you’ve discovered to make the best ultimate decision. Whatever you decide… it is your decision and you must always accept the ramifications from what you do or don’t do.
