Sunday, August 14, 2016

Taking choices (seriously)

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Taking choices (seriously)

Think about our daily choices. Even before leaving home for the day we have decided when to get up, what sequence to follow for our morning, what outfit to wear, what to have for breakfast, what words to say … and on it goes. Many of these early morning choices are matters of habit, but even habit is a choice and it builds on earlier choices.

Some choices are always inconsequential. Nothing much will change if I wear the blue work shirt  or the pink. Other choices are inconsequential at the time but their cumulative effect may matter. Today’s choice for a muesli breakfast instead of toast with jam matters not, but a thousand such choices may affect my health in later years. Other choices may appear inconsequential but turn out to be life changing. What if I have equally convenient bus and train options for getting to work but the day I choose the bus leads to an apparently random meeting of the love of my life?

How do we take such choices? A recent opinion piece draws attention to the power of randomness, even in major choices. Freakonomics author Steven Levitt says it's best to toss a coin (Peter Martin, Canberra Times 14th August 2016): http://www.canberratimes.com.au/comment/freakonomics-author-steven-levitt-says-its-best-to-toss-a-coin-20160812-gqr5se.html. We’ll come back to that later.

Some people seem obsessed with getting their choices perfect, even if the matter is of small consequence. This is the person who does endless research to find the best price on a bag of carrots and then outspends the savings in opportunity and transport costs to get to the venue where the deal is good. It’s the person who spends 15 minutes changing from one clothing combination to another until heading out late to miss that bus that may have changed their life.

Some find it useful to use the following in their decision-making process:

·       How important is it?

How important is the issue is on a scale on 1 to 10? (Of course, that ranking will reflect our underlying values and they are worth thinking about). If it has very low importance we may as well toss the coin or do the first thing that occurs to us. Let’s save procrastinating anxiety for things of high importance!

·       Use your head

What are the available options and what are the dimensions and implications of each? What’s the case for and against each option? Which case is the most persuasive for you? Note again that that our underlying values will be on view here. For example, you may be buying a household appliance. One option has all the extras that you want and comes in at a competitive price. Another is more expensive, but was produced in a factory that pays fair wages and is more environmentally friendly. The one you prefer reflects what you value.

  • Listen to your heart
Our heart intuitions reflect our deepest us – that’s the real ‘me’. Of course intuitions need to be examined and tested, but they are worth attention. This is especially so for the more head-orientated person who may be prone to the procrastination of perfectionism.

  • Listen to others
It’s often wise on important issues (or ones where we are stuck) to listen to others. Find the friend who knows you and the person who knows something about that matter being chosen. Ask for the views and probe them. We wouldn’t normally ask someone else to take a choice for us (that’s an abrogation of responsibility), but the words of others can be handy as advice.

Its time to go back to the article cited above. The writer comments on an argument for the randomness of tossing a coin to take decisions. Many of us would agree with that when it comes to the choice between the blue and pink work shirt. The article goes further. It examines tossing a coin for the big decision of life such as choosing jobs, having a baby, getting married and such like. It reports a finding that people doing this report great happiness levels in taking choices that way. The article attributes this happiness to the fact that the coin tossers tend to make more changes in their lives rather than be stuck in confining ruts of change resistance. We could also guess that the tossers are happier because they have spared themselves the agony of procrastinating angst.

This is worth pondering. I just faced a choice of which shirt to wear for a speaking opportunity today. A choice between a plain blue and striped pink shirt was available in the wardrobe. I could have agonised, discussed with my wife, prayed or drawn up a spreadsheet to decide. Three coin tosses later and the blue it is. (Of course that could also have been done with one toss, but being a cautious Presbyterian I wanted to be sure.) Now that that’s done I could give my time to more important things like finishing this blog piece.

However, its one thing to toss a coin on a low-consequence choice but another on a high consequence matter. Coin tossing on matters of importance presupposes one of two opposite views of life. The first is determinism and the second is random meaninglessness.

Consider determinism. Some hold to a view that the universe is a machine that runs itself.  (That is called determinism and is often paired with naturalism- the view that the physical is all that there is.) If so, we may as well toss a coin. On that worldview, the coin toss will make no difference because the predetermined result will happen anyway (whether through or against the coin toss). Tossing the coin saves time, because you were always going to finish up there anyway.

Now the other view. If nothing really matters, and all is random, then a coin toss is as good a way of deciding things as considered thoughtfulness. ‘Why not, it makes no difference’ is the mantra here. On this worldview, a toss may seem to validate the tosser and give significance for just that moment and before returning to the insignificance of no-choice.

The Christian worldview points us in another direction and its no toss of the coin.

The Scriptures teach that the God who made the world remains actively involved in its affairs. This is so much so that everything is moved according to his big plans (Eph 1:11). Fortunately for us, his big plan is wondrously good – its nothing less than uniting everything in the created universe together in Jesus (Eph 1:9-10). In doing this God gets up close and personal. He works everything for good in the lives of those who love him (Rom 8:28). It’s a question for another day what that good is – but suffice to say that it’s a good that is better than our wildest imaginations.

Doesn’t this sound like divine determinism? Has God pre-taken all our choices and we are back to the pointless toss of a coin whose fall makes no difference?

No! We were not made as cogs in a machine, but as people in God’s image whose choices make a difference. Our Biblical ancestors had a choice to eat or not to eat the forbidden fruit and their choice made an earth-shattering difference for them and us (Gen 3; Rom 5:12-21). Joshua set a choice of religious loyalties before his generation (Josh 23:14-15), as did the prophet Elijah (1 Kngs 18:21). Judas had a choice (Lke 22:22,48) as did Peter (Lke 22:33-34, 61-62) and Pilate (Lke 23:1-16). Their choices changed Jesus’ life, their own and that of others.

However, notice something else. These real choices fell out within the plan decided by God. Jesus’ death was for salvation was according to a plan that had been there in the Bible all along for those to see (Lke 22:22; 24:24-26, 44). The Bible calls this providence. We take real choices that make a difference, but are choices are already woven into and serve God’s big plans to units all things in Jesus and to do good to his people.

This is a profoundly practical and reassuring teaching!

We should care in our choices because our choices change things for others and ourselves. My shirt colour is well-decided by a coin toss or the whim of the moment, but that’s not true for other things. As a husband, father, grandfather and friend, my life choices affect those whom I love. Will I choose for me or for God and others? Will I choose wisely (and according to the importance of the matter) or foolishly? Will in I choose in a way that shows love of God and others or love of self? How will others be affected by my choices?  These are some of the value questions that lie behind the process above.

Now for the reassurance. Sometimes we take bad choices whether from ignorance, bad values or base motivations. The encouraging thing is that this is not the end of the world. Some of our choices will self-correct as events pass or there will be a later opportunity for us to chose a different path. But even in our worst choices God is still there, weaving things into his big plan and working for good. And so Peter could later take another and different choice and come back into God ‘s plans (Jn 21:15-19. Even in the case of Judas who carried his bad choice to fruition, God still worked for good. Judas was eternally stuck with the consequence of his choice (Matt 27:1-10) but through it God sent his Son on the Cross to save. Those who chose to embrace him with faith are saved, while those who choose not to believe are left under a self-made condemnation (Jn 3:16-21). Our choice here changes our destiny for eternity.

Some choices deserve no more than the toss of a coin. Others deserve far more attention and none more so than our choice about Jesus.