I hate making decisions, even little ones. I can always see arguments on both sides.

Even on the allotment I find myself questioning whether I should be pulling out flowering weeds in a time of climate catastrophe – don’t the pollinators need them? On the other hand, they are strangling the beetroot…

Making a decision – choosing to take one course of action over another – is never without consequences. Whether it’s how to angle the penalty to beat the goalie, who to vote for in an election or whether to apply for that promotion – or ask someone out – and risk being turned down.

In the Bible Herod makes a rash promise to give a girl anything she wants. She chooses the head of an innocent man – John the Baptist. Herod chooses to grant her request. So John is beheaded and that decision goes on to haunt Herod.

A short while after that, Herod is asked to make another decision about the life or death of a man – Jesus of Nazareth. He could show that he has learned from the past and decide to save him. Instead, he sends Jesus back to Pilate who also ‘washes his hands’ of him. Consequently Jesus is whipped and crucified. These two men will always be remembered for making the wrong decisions and punishing an innocent man.

Edmund Burke is believed to have said, ‘The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil to is for good men to do nothing.’ Even doing nothing is another, consequential choice that we should think carefully about.

Written by Rev Beverley Lock, Diocese of Carlisle Vocations Team

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