Jesus Is Lord, But You Still Make Decisions
Updated: 16 hours ago
Christian surrender does not abolish ordinary human agency.
If you're coming from a high-control environment, the following article might cause a reaction. It might cause some instinctive pushback. But I simply ask anyone reading it to look carefully at the Scriptures I mention. Here goes...
There is a form of Christian language that sounds deeply surrendered.
I don't want to make my own decisions.
I just want God to tell me what to do.
My opinions don't matter. Only His will matters.
My thinking is dangerous, so I just need to not think.
There is something beautiful and sincere underneath statements like those. I understand the desire behind them. A Christian really should want to live under the lordship of Jesus Christ rather than simply doing whatever seems right in their own eyes. That's biblical.
Jesus is Lord. Following Him involves obedience.
There will definitely be occasions when His commands confront our preferences, challenge our desires and lead us somewhere we would not naturally have chosen. But somewhere along the way, an important distinction can become blurred.
Surrendering our lives to God does not mean surrendering the ordinary human responsibility to think, discern, choose and, in the end, make decisions.
In fact, Scripture assumes that mature Christians will do exactly those things.
I have occasionally encountered Christian teaching which appears to go considerably further than encouraging believers to seek God's will, which they should. It suggests that spiritual maturity means using our minds primarily to receive and follow God's directions rather than exercising ordinary Christian judgement and making godly decisions ourselves, almost as if we are little more than human radio receivers. Taken even further, making any decision concerning our own lives can begin to be portrayed as self-rule, independence or rebellion against God.
I don't think that can be sustained biblically. And pastorally, I think it can become surprisingly damaging.
Jesus is Lord
Let's begin with what is true. Christianity isn't about adding Jesus to a life which remains fundamentally ours to govern however we please. One of the simplest and earliest Christian confessions was: Jesus is Lord. That means He is not only our Saviour; He is rightly our Lord and Master.
“You are not your own; you were bought at a price.” 1 Corinthians 6:19–20
Jesus Himself calls people to deny themselves, take up their cross and follow Him. So Christian freedom is not absolute personal autonomy. Christian freedom makes us free to serve Jesus and follow His teaching. We belong to Him.
There are also decisions Scripture has effectively already made for us. I don't need a prophetic word about whether murder is acceptable. I don't need to discern whether I should deliberately deceive somebody for personal advantage. I don't need to put out a fleece to know whether I can misuse God's name. I don't need to wait for an inner impression before loving my neighbour, telling the truth or caring for somebody in need. Where Christ has clearly commanded something, discipleship involves obedience.
There are also times when the Holy Spirit may genuinely guide us in specific ways. I believe that. I have experienced it. But God's lordship over my life does not mean that every ordinary decision requires a specific divine instruction before I am permitted to act. That is a very different idea.
Scripture assumes that Christians make decisions
Consider something as ordinary as Romans 14, where Paul is discussing disagreements among Christians concerning food and particular days. These were not insignificant matters for the people involved. They touched religious conviction, conscience and faithfulness to God. Yet Paul writes:
“One person considers one day more sacred than another; another considers every day alike. Each of them should be fully convinced in their own mind.” Romans 14:5
Notice what Paul doesn't say. He doesn't say, “One of you needs to hear from God and tell everyone else what He has decided.” Neither does he say that possessing an opinion demonstrates independence from God. He expects Christians to think. He expects them to reach convictions. He expects different Christians sometimes to reach different conclusions.
And, within the boundaries Paul establishes, he expects them to live responsibly before God according to those convictions. That isn't rebellion. It is part of Christian maturity.
“She is free to marry anyone she wishes”
There is an even more striking example in 1 Corinthians 7 where Paul is discussing marriage and widowhood. He writes:
“A woman is bound to her husband as long as he is alive. But if her husband dies, she is free to marry anyone she wishes, but he must belong to the Lord.” 1 Corinthians 7:39
That is quite extraordinary when we think about some modern approaches to discovering God's will. Paul doesn't say: “There is one man God has selected for her, and she must discover who he is.” He doesn't say: “She must wait until a spiritual authority receives confirmation concerning whom she should marry.”
He gives a clear biblical boundary. He must belong to the Lord. And inside that boundary she is free to marry anyone she wishes. Her choice still matters. Wisdom matters. Character matters. Circumstances matter. Prayer matters. Counsel may matter considerably. And, of course, God may guide her in very particular ways.
But Paul can apparently speak of a surrendered Christian making a genuinely personal choice without regarding the existence of that choice as rebellion against God's lordship.
That tells us something important. God's sovereignty and human decision-making are not enemies.
“It seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us”
Acts 15 gives us another fascinating example. The early Church faced an enormously important theological and pastoral question concerning Gentile believers and the requirements of the Mosaic Law.
The apostles and elders gathered. They discussed. They listened to testimony. They examined what God had been doing. James appealed to Scripture. Then they reached a decision. And their letter contains one of my favourite phrases concerning Christian discernment:
“It seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us…” Acts 15:28
There is something really healthy about those words because they did not seem to view human deliberation and divine guidance as competing processes.
They didn't say: “We stopped thinking until God dictated the answer.” Nor did they say:
“We have reasoned everything out, therefore we don't need the Holy Spirit.”
They listened, reasoned, discussed, considered what God had been doing, interpreted Scripture and reached a judgement in Him. And somehow they could say: It seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us.
Perhaps mature Christian discernment often looks more like that than we realise. Not God replacing our minds. God working through renewed minds. That fits well with Romans 12:2, where the renewing of our minds enables us to test and approve what God’s will is.
What James actually says about planning
James 4:13-15 is sometimes brought into conversations about making our own plans because he challenges people who say:
“Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.”
He reminds them that they don't know what tomorrow will bring and teaches them to say:
“If it is the Lord's will, we will live and do this or that.”
But notice something important. James doesn't tell them to stop planning. He corrects their presumption. Their problem isn't that they have considered travelling to another city, conducting business and making money. Their problem is the arrogant assumption that they control the future.
The correction isn't: Never make plans.
It is: Make plans humbly.
Say, in effect: This is what I believe is wise. This is what I intend to do. But ultimately my life belongs to God, and He may redirect me.
That is very different from believing that planning itself demonstrates rebellion.
Sometimes wisdom is God's provision
There have been seasons in my own Christian life when I have probably tried too hard to hear a specific divine instruction about things God may simply have wanted me to prayerfully discern and decide before Him, with the wisdom He has given.
I understand why. When you sincerely love God, the thought of missing His will can feel frightening. You don't want to take the wrong job. You don't want to marry the wrong person. You don't want to join the wrong church. You don't want to move to the wrong town. You certainly don't want to discover years later that God had been saying something and you ignored Him.
So you pray. That's important.
You seek counsel. That's good.
Perhaps somebody shares a Scripture or prophetic impression. It may genuinely help.
But if we take it too far, eventually we can begin believing that unless something supernatural happens, we don't have permission to decide. Imagine that applied to every ordinary choice: which food to buy, whether to go into work as normal, or even when to go to the bathroom.
I don't think God intended us to live like that. Sometimes the answer may simply be to use the wisdom God has already given you.
Scripture tells us that wisdom itself comes from God. Our renewed minds are gifts from God. Wise Christian friends are gifts from God. Experience can be a gift. Circumstances matter. Responsibilities matter. Character matters. Common sense isn't necessarily the enemy of spirituality.
Sometimes there may be several genuinely permissible choices in front of us. And perhaps God isn't withholding the secret correct answer. Perhaps He has already given us sufficient freedom and wisdom to choose.
Freedom does not mean independence from God
This needs some qualification because the opposite error is equally possible. Someone could hear all of this and say:
“Excellent. Nobody can tell me what to do. I'll make my own decisions.”
That isn't Christian maturity either. Scripture repeatedly warns against pride, self-deception and refusing wise correction.
“The way of fools seems right to them, but the wise listen to advice.” Proverbs 12:15
There are times when someone else sees something in us that we cannot see ourselves. There are occasions when pastors should challenge people. There are times when godly friends should say: “I think you need to reconsider this.” And there may even be situations where someone believes God has given them something specific to share with us.
We shouldn't become so protective of personal agency that nobody is ever permitted to question us. But neither should receiving counsel mean transferring responsibility for our lives to somebody else. Wise counsel contributes to discernment. It doesn't normally replace it.
The danger of making decision-making itself sinful
This is where the issue becomes pastorally significant.
Imagine a Christian who has gradually absorbed the idea that making ordinary personal decisions without receiving a specific divine instruction is spiritually dangerous. They are taught that mature believers do not really decide. They receive instructions. They are then surrounded by people who appear particularly confident about hearing God.
What happens? The balance of spiritual influence can shift very quickly.
Someone says: "God has shown me that you should do this.”
The person receiving the instruction may have reservations. Perhaps the decision concerns their marriage, family, work, finances, or which ministry they belong to. But if they have already been taught that making their own decision is evidence of self-rule, what exactly are they supposed to do with their concerns?
Suddenly the issue is no longer: “Is this wise?”
It becomes: “Am I willing to obey God?”
And the person claiming divine guidance occupies an extraordinarily powerful position. They may not intend to manipulate anyone. They may sincerely believe they're helping.
But the theology itself can create dependency. The person who sounds most certain about God's voice can gradually become the person who effectively makes everyone else's decisions. That is not spiritual maturity.
God’s guidance doesn’t remove our agency
Perhaps some of our difficulty comes from the way we imagine God's relationship with us.
We can picture God’s will like one hidden route through life, where a single wrong turn means we have somehow missed His whole plan. Take the wrong job. Move to the wrong place. Miss the right relationship. Choose the wrong ministry. And suddenly God's entire plan has been damaged.
That can produce enormous anxiety.
But Scripture frequently presents something richer. We belong to a Father. We follow a Shepherd. We are being transformed into the likeness of Christ. God certainly leads. Sometimes He intervenes dramatically. Sometimes He closes doors. Sometimes He opens them. Sometimes His direction becomes remarkably specific.
But our relationship with Him isn't fundamentally an elaborate spiritual treasure hunt where we must decipher the correct answer before we're allowed to move.
There may be occasions when God says: Go there.
There may be occasions when He says: Don't do that.
But there may also be many occasions when He has already given us sufficient wisdom to discern and choose faithfully.
Lordship should produce maturity, not paralysis
I want Jesus to be Lord of my decisions. I don't want to live independently of Him. I want Scripture to shape my thinking. I want the Holy Spirit to guide me. I want wise Christians to challenge me where necessary. I want sufficient humility to change my mind when I am wrong. But none of that requires pretending that I no longer make decisions.
Perhaps the healthier prayer isn't always:
“Lord, tell me exactly what to do.”
Sometimes it might be:
“Lord, give me wisdom. Search my motives. Correct me where I am wrong. Help me listen well, think clearly and remain open to Your direction. And then help me make a faithful decision.”
That seems to me much closer to the ordinary pattern of New Testament discipleship.
Jesus is Lord. We are His. His Word has authority over us. The Holy Spirit leads us. We live humbly under God's providence. And within that surrendered relationship, we still think. We still discern. We still plan. We still choose. We still take responsibility.
Christian surrender does not abolish ordinary human agency.
Perhaps genuine maturity is not reaching the point where somebody else always tells us what God wants. Perhaps it is becoming the kind of people who know God, know His Word, welcome His Spirit, receive wise counsel and are increasingly capable of making faithful decisions in His presence.
© 2026 Darren Roy
If this article has affected you, or if you are unsure whether you have experienced unhealthy church or ministry dynamics, help is available. Even if you are unsure of your next steps, please click the link below to explore resources and support.
This article explores spiritual authority, personal discernment and Christian freedom. The situations described are general illustrations informed by pastoral reflection and experience. My intention isn't to discourage prophecy, biblical correction or responsible spiritual leadership, but to encourage their healthy practice, firmly grounded in Scripture, humility and accountability.
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