Making decisions can be difficult. Sometimes, really difficult.
Ever had a big decision hanging over your head and felt as though you just couldn’t make a choice, worried about what was best, or right? We’ve all been there. That’s what some pundits call “decision paralysis”, or “paralysis of analysis” – when we overthink or overanalyse a situation to the point where we cannot make any choice at all. No one is immune to this. Why does this happen? Well, the answer is not all that straightforward, but I have a hunch that there are several key factors in play like; fear (all kinds), perfectionism (that would be me!), anxiety, needing someone’s approval, and all kinds of thought distortions. But, bigger than all these – most of the time, I reckon – for decision paralysis, is that there is simply way too many choices. I first experienced this way back in another technological era that predates USB drives, live streaming video services, Youtube and DVDs. I first encountered my first serious decision paralysis episode in the local video store (Blockbuster Video – remember them), when I had purchased my first ever Video Cassette Player/Recorder and wanted something to view.
The weekend would come and I would zip off after dinner to grab a movie from the local store. But the choices laid out there in rows and rows of racks of video cassettes (later it was DVDs, of course) were so many it took me absolutely ages to make a choice. One night I zipped down to the store to get a video Anne and I could watch – and an hour and a half later I returned with a Clint Eastwood movie that she didn’t like anyway. I had spent more time trying to make a choice than the time it would take to watch the actual movie! Too many choices! This was not a once-off, either. I wasted so much time at Blockbuster trying to select the perfect movie – ah! the affliction of decision paralysis!
A study published in the “Journal of Personality and Social Psychology” examined the decision-making habits of grocery shoppers presented with attractive displays of either 6, or 24 varieties of jams. They discovered that less is definitely more because people who saw fewer jam options were actually more likely to buy some. Why? Well, it is a lot less overwhelming to choose from 6 jam options than 24. 24 is hard work and feeds into the paralysis of analysis thing that is fed by materialism, advertising and consumerism. “Choice overwhelmtion” (“overwhelmtion” is a word I made up for this article, and I think it’s pretty awesome), is one of the great issues of our day.
Satan knows this, so very well. He has devised and inspired so many religions, belief systems, moralities and spiritual pathways in our day. There is a huge raft of them, and all are available at the click of a mouse button on the internet. People seeking real spiritual meaning and helpful pathways are overwhelmed with all the choices available – logically, they cannot all be right. But Satan has inspired a rationalisation that says, “Just pick one, any one will do – except Christianity”. Christianity is but one of these choices for the seeker. It also happens to be the ONLY choice that matters now and in eternity. Jesus made this so clear when He said:
John 14:6 (NIV)
"I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.”
When it comes to life and eternal destiny there is only one choice – one way. That choice is a person. That person laid down His life for us, shed His blood for us, and gives to us His resurrection life. “Choice overwhelmtion” is a great challenge for the church. We are called to be a distinctive, contrast community on earth – salt, light, a city on a hill clearly seen etc. The contrasting factor is the presence of Christ, His fragrance, His life, the power of the kingdom …
But one of the besetting problems for 21st century Christians is that, with the sheer range of choices available to them today (along with every other human being), the exclusive demands of their Christian faith – their willingness to really be single-minded, devoted followers of Christ – is being eroded. There are too many choices – not necessarily Christian brands and denominations available, but other secular offerings and options that Satan deliberately uses to compete with the one choice disciples of Christ have every day. (We could spend hours unpacking this, of course).
Faith and spirituality is dissipating; love for Jesus is growing colder and colder … decision paralysis concerning what our faith demands, and what our baptism means, affects many believers when it comes to how they live in response to God’s mercy shown us in Christ. Decision paralysis!
Many believers today are avoiding the one clear choice and ALL that it requires of them, because of FOMO (fear of missing out – fear being the operative word, here!). But this is a great deception Satan has planted in their minds. The bible makes it clear to us that the one clear choice God offers, is implemented in only one way …
Luke 13:24 (NIV)
[Jesus] "Make every effort to enter through the narrow door, because many, I tell you, will try to enter and will not be able to.
The narrow door is always about one choice that matters every day – every day - not when we want to feel spiritual. The narrow door IS the one choice that matters and, because it is so crucial every day, it must be used to defeat Satan’s weapon of “choice overwhelmtion”.
If we succumb to “choice overwhelmtion” when it militates against our walk with Jesus, we end up in a place where there are no choices left about anything. In the same breath as mentioning the narrow door of the one crucial choice, Jesus said,
Luke 13:28 (NIV)
"There will be weeping there, and gnashing of teeth, when you see Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God, but you yourselves thrown out.”
There must not be any kind of decision paralysis when it comes to obedience to Christ. Once more on this “choice overwhelmtion” danger in our day, I believe Jesus would repeat:
Matthew 7:13-14 (NIV) "Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction (choice overwhelmtion), and many enter through it. 14 But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.”
There is only ever one choice that matters …
Think on these things.
Ps Milton
Sources: Journal of Personality and Social Psychology No. 84 Vol. 5