This is about deciding what to do with our lives.
In my case, the decision was relatively easy. One morning, the ministry came to me. But other people’s situations may be very different. We may have to decide for ourselves what we should do. We pray, seek God’s guidance, and ask Him to show us the direction we should take. Then, once we have discerned what God is calling us to do, we need to pursue that ministry faithfully—for God and for people.
I believe there are three kinds of choices.
1. Primary Choice
Above all, the Primary Choice is the most important. Ideally, there should be only one primary choice in our life—the major work or calling that we want to complete with our lives.
Of course, there are many other things we need to choose. These are our secondary choices.
2. Secondary Choices
There may be hundreds or even thousands of secondary choices throughout our lives: where to live, what to study, what job to take, whom to work with, how to spend our time, and many other decisions.
These choices are important, but they should support our primary choice rather than compete with it.
3. Fundamental Choice
There is also a third kind of choice, which I call the Fundamental Choice.
Even if we have made a wonderful primary choice and made many good secondary choices, those choices will not work well if our fundamental choice is weak.
For me, the fundamental choice is honesty and integrity.
We have to choose honesty intentionally. Integrity is not simply something that happens naturally. It is a choice we make again and again. It becomes the foundation that supports both our primary and secondary choices.
This idea comes, in part, from Robert Fritz’s book The Path of Least Resistance. Fritz gives some fascinating examples of prominent people who struggled in school when they were young. Among them were Pablo Picasso, Albert Einstein, Eleanor Roosevelt, Marcel Proust, Eugene O’Neill, William Faulkner, and Giacomo Puccini.
Their teachers did not necessarily expect great things from them. Some of them struggled academically or were considered unlikely to succeed. Yet these young people eventually became remarkable and influential creators.
Why?
Robert Fritz points to several factors. But one thing I would emphasize is the importance of what they received at home—the values and character that shaped them. In my own words, I would call this integrity.
This is why I believe the Fundamental Choice is so important. It is the foundation upon which our Primary Choice and Secondary Choices rest.
If the foundation is weak, even good choices can eventually collapse.
Does this make sense to you?
This concept has been personally helpful to me, and that is why I wanted to introduce it here. Before we return to our main topic—the Primary Choice—I wanted to pause and consider the foundation upon which all our other choices are built.
Ultimately, the question is not only, “What should I do with my life?”
It is also, “What kind of person will I be while I am doing it?”
Our calling tells us what we do.
Our integrity determines how we do it.