Big Decisions

Luke 6:12-13 - In these days he went out to the mountain to pray, and all night he continued in prayer to God. And when day came, he called his disciples and chose from them twelve, whom he named apostles.

Some decisions are not worth much time or any agony. I have wasted a lot of time trying to decide what groceries to buy, what to order from the menu, and what shirt to wear. These decisions did not make much difference in the long run. However, there are some decisions that are critical to our futures and those of the people around us. None are more important than people decisions. Like the old cliché says, “Show me your friends, and I will show you your future.”

By this point, Jesus had a huge group of followers. I imagine all of them would have loved personal mentoring and lots of face time, but Jesus could not effectively train a multitude like he could a small group. Twelve was the number he needed to have to properly invest in to ensure the infant church would have strong leadership after he left. This was one of the most important decisions Jesus made on earth.

Notice, he, the Son of God, took a whole night in prayer before selecting the twelve apostles. He got away from distractions, and he prayed. We do not get to know if God the Father identified each disciple by name or if the time in prayer helped Jesus to clarify his thoughts about his needs, his followers, and who would be the best apostles. What we do know is that he spent time in focused prayer then he made his decision. We each need to discern the decisions that we face that are truly important and follow Jesus’ example: Pray, pray hard, and then decide.