How to Make Wise Decisions and Make Your Faith the Center of Your Everyday Life

If there’s one thing I hope anyone can take away from any part of my blog, it’s this. I want it to be obvious that my faith isn’t just a part of my life but THE center of my life, what my entire life revolves around. And I hope that I can be seen as someone who makes wise decisions out of that.

Since basically everything on my blog talks about the importance of all this, I thought it might be good to actually break down how you can do this. There’s a lot of people who want to have a strong faith, but over the years or even months and weeks they fall away. There’s a lot of people who believe they have faith as the most important part of their life but still don’t make wise decisions. I’m not always perfect with either of these things, and obviously that’s not the goal because it CAN’T be a goal in this life. But it is something that God has given me grace with and shown me how to have.

It’s not a formula. There are no magic actions to take other than trusting Jesus as your Savior and repenting of your sins, but in this post, we’re specifically looking at what happens after that as the Holy Spirit begins cleaning up your life. Do you let Him or do you resist Him? Ultimately, it’s this question that we must ask. I think everyone wants to believe they let Him, but how often do you hear His voice and recognize it? Is your life characterized by the fruits of the Spirit? Those aren’t just things that come out of doing XYZ but rather changes and growth that come over time—like any other part of development—as you are also developing in your relationship with God. Jesus says those who are His know His voice and that they will be known by their fruits (John 10:27; Matthew 7:16-20).

For me and anyone else who seeks Him, it’s all about a daily desire to be close to Him. If you want Him to be the most important relationship in your life and the person you’re closest to, then why do so many of us do the least with Him? You can’t just do religious tasks, like going to church and paying attention on retreats, and then pushing Him to the back of your mind during times when life is busy or you’re preoccupied. To be close to Him, you truly have to do just that: get close to Him. If you don’t feel His presence in your life, then consider how much you really are drawing close to Him. He says He will come near to us when we come near to Him (James 4:8).

There’s a couple points to be mentioned with that. For one, you can’t just come on your terms. I think that’s probably one of the biggest mistakes people make and don’t realize it. They go to church when they feel inspired to, they read their Bible when they get the urge or are desperate to, they talk to Him when they want to, or they don’t do any of those things and just expect that their believing in Him is enough. Now, let me also be clear: it’s not the actions taken or not taken here but the attitude. I do not have perfect church and Bible study attendance, but I still feel as though my relationship with God flourishes despite that. I love those things for the fellowship and because they are opportunities to draw near to God, but merely doing the actions doesn’t work. I’ve been out of church for years and grown in my faith with God at some seasons, and I’ve been in church and felt distant from God for some seasons. Should that be the norm? No, and the reason it could be for me was because of my attitude. There were times when I was younger before I found a solid church that I grew in my relationship with God because I had the desire to, even if I didn’t have desire for any of the more religious things. However, my desire for those things grew as I grew closer to God and realized the true purpose of those things.

Likewise, there have been times when I was much younger at Sunday School where nothing would really sink in for me, I was bored to tears, I would make reading my Bible a goal but never do it. I did love God, but I didn’t understand what it meant to surrender myself and my life to Him in the way that He deserves. You could say I loved my own way of doing things more, and I was reluctant to do anything I didn’t feel like doing.

Having a desire to draw near to God surpasses feelings. I’ve realized that now, and that leads me into the second point to make: you can be drawing near to God and still not feel His presence. That’s been one of the more conflicting things for me to understand because I was like, He says He will draw near to me and I am genuinely seeking Him for help and closeness and yet don’t feel Him at all. Notice the word FEEL. Many respected people of the faith, including numerous people that have been used by God throughout the Bible, did not always feel His presence, even though these were people that were commended and still regarded highly for their faith in and desire for God. One example that comes to my mind is David, who wrote various Psalms where he felt distant from and neglected by God, yet He was considered a man after God’s heart (Acts 13:22). Feelings aren’t bad, but they can also not be trusted entirely when evaluating your life. I think that is one of the biggest problems. People attempt to draw near to God in the hopes that they will overwhelmingly feel His presence, don’t feel it, and then give up and decide faith doesn’t work or they don’t make it a priority in their lives even though they may still believe. Or people do feel moments where they perceive themselves being really close to God’s presence, like after going on a big retreat, but then when the feelings fade, so does their faith and commitment to God.

This is why it’s all about attitude. You have to want to be close to God, period, no strings attached. That comes from understanding who He is. When you see Him as He is, you will love Him or else you will hate Him due to your own selfish desires and lusts, but you can’t remain neutral to Him. People who are neutral to Him don’t know enough about Him. When you do love God, though, you will love Him with that all-in, no-strings-attached sort of love, the kind that isn’t dependent on what He does for you, how close you feel to Him, or any other “human” reason to love Him. You will love Him because He is God, and your soul will long to draw near to Him. With that sort of love, the other “actions” do follow, things like going to church to be around His people and hear His Word, reading His Word (because how else will you spend time and learn about Him as much as you can with this? It’s literally His voice because everything that was written and recorded was inspired through the Spirit {2 Timothy 3:16}), and through praying all sorts of things, from praises to requests for others to thanksgiving and everything in between, all the time (1 Thessalonians 5:17).

Above all, God is looking for a heart that desires Him, and that comes through obedience and surrender to Him (John 14:15), making Him who you’re living for and not just Someone you put in your Instagram bio or say you believe in. That’s not something that happens overnight and only lasts for a week or as long as you feel like it. Every day is a gift from Him, a new day to draw near to Him through talking to Him, getting in His Word, and being still with Him so that you continue to grow in knowledge of what is good and pleasing to Him (Romans 12:2). I want to share that verse in its entire form, actually, because while there are so many Scriptures that instruct us on how we draw near to God, this verse really shows what it comes down to:

Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.

Romans 12:2 NIV

So many people want to do the opposite of this command—not conform completely to the faith or to God (they don’t want to neglect their social status, after all, or surrender all their own desires and terms for how they live) and are instead allowing their faith and minds to be transformed by the world and what the culture pushes out. They believe in God as much as their friends do, but they don’t want to completely submit to Him for fear of what people might think of that dedication, especially once it begins to affect the everyday decisions they make, which the majority of people find odd or offensive at times.

But that is a huge problem because the world is always changing and doesn’t have a clue what is good for itself; only our unchanging, eternal Creator knows that, which is why we can only make wise decisions when He becomes the center of our lives. How will we know God if we’re only giving Him as much as ourselves as we want to give? Do you think that’s fair in any way? He’s going to do the same for you, then. He wants your faith and you to act out in faith; He has already made the first move in calling you and dying for you—giving you literally everything—and now it’s up to you to respond to that in faith, where He will then enter your life and begin instructing you as you draw near to Him (Hebrews 11:6). The end of that verse says He rewards those who seek Him! That’s because you WILL grow in character, in maturity, in wisdom, in love for Him and others, and that will positively permeate your life and the decisions you make. There’s no guarantee that the circumstances around you will be easy, but with Him, you have more than enough to conquer them (Romans 8:37).

You may not always feel like you’re being rewarded. Last year around this time, I was in a pit about a lot of things, just things that had added up with my loneliness over the years and things I had been through and seen that were extremely difficult, and I was crying out for God to do something about it and more than anything just to be close to me and comfort me. I felt frustrated with Him, but I also craved His presence because I knew that was the true answer I needed. I didn’t feel like I received His presence, which only compounded my frustrations. I kept crying out, and it felt like I was hearing absolutely nothing.

First of all, this is actually normal and a part of the journey of faith. True desire for God won’t stop here, though. It will keep seeking, keep knocking, expecting that He does and will hear, even if you don’t feel it the way you’d like to (Matthew 7:7; John 9:31; 1 John 5:15; 1 Peter 5:7 to name a few). Second, you’re in good company even when you feel distant from God. I was just reading through Exodus the other day where Moses asks why, and my study Bible listed out other well-known people throughout the Bible who also prayed to God that way, including Jesus Himself, who asked God why had He forsaken Him (Matthew 27:46). I have so many quotes and examples from the Bible saved that show how when His most devoted followers felt cut off from Him, He was actually doing most on their behalf. There is a purpose for His silence, and you will be blessed when you keep remaining close to Him even when you don’t understand. That is faith, after all.

True faith starts with surrendering to and believing in Jesus to save and forgive you of your sins and making the decision to live a life that is pleasing to Him, but it doesn’t stop there. If it does, it wasn’t real faith because real faith changes your life for the better and better. The Holy Spirit softens, molds, and grows your heart to heed His voice and obey Him regardless of how you feel on given days or seasons of life. That is the true purpose for life, the secret that isn’t a secret because it’s the whole purpose of the Bible and for why God created us at all. And your desire to live completely for and to Him will be rewarded. Just as you make Him the center of your life, that will show in your everyday life through the strength, joy, peace, and wonderful works He gives and does through you that He will bring to completion (John 16:22; Philippians 1:6).

He longs to have you draw near to Him. It’s what you were created for. The lie that so many of us are deceived by is that any sort of goodness exists apart from Him, so we focus on that, what the world might deem as satisfying, and neglect Him, who is the source of everything good because He IS goodness. When you realize that, you can’t help but desire to draw close to Him every single day until you’re with Him forever.