by Robert Tamasy

In the business and professional world, we often hear the term “due diligence” describing the process used prior to making important decisions. For instance, when seeking a new leader, companies will perform due diligence to find the best candidate. Before introducing a new product or service, a business does due diligence to evaluate consumer interest, competition, product placement, and marketing.

When looking to add a key individual to the staff, due diligence is in order to ensure the right person is selected: skills, expertise, experience, values, motivation, proper fit with other members of the team.

As individuals, when thinking about a significant vocational change, we are well-advised to do our own due diligence – studying opportunities in the job market; the quality of organizations we are considering to become our employer; whether a job offer represents an opportunity to advance our career; and perhaps most important, if we intend to change jobs, what do we really want to do. Do we want to do the same thing we have been doing, only somewhere else? Or is it time to take a totally new career path?

Research often makes up a large portion of due diligence, and today such information is more available than ever. Through technology – especially the Internet and social media – necessary data can be obtained in minutes instead of days or weeks. We have greater resources than ever for making the right decisions. But often we forget or neglect one important source – the wisdom of God.

Sometimes, despite our best efforts and “due diligence,” the best choice remains unclear. At such times it would be advisable to do as the Bible’s New Testament recommends: “If any of you lack wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him” (James 1:5).

When perplexed and faced with a difficult decision, it has been my practice to pray, asking God for wisdom and necessary insight to ensure that I do not decide in error. Through the years, I have met many leaders that have made the determination, “God is the owner of my business,” so it made sense to them to seek His wisdom for their day-to-day decision-making.

However, there is an important “qualification” to seeking God’s wisdom. We find it in the following verse: “But when he asks, he must believe and not doubt, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. That man should not think he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all he does” (James 1:6-7).

As I have thought about it, in light of all the many decisions that we confront each day, there is one decision that transcends them all: Whether we will sincerely seek to live for God, not only privately but also professionally. Thousands of years ago, the Israelite leader Joshua made this declaration: “As for me and my household, we will serve the Lord” (Joshua 24:15). Have you made the same determination?

If not, due diligence again is merited. Such a decision, certainly, should not be taken lightly. We would do well to follow the example of spiritual seekers in the ancient city of Berea. In the New Testament, we are told, “the Bereans…searched the Scriptures to see if what Paul (the apostle) said was true” (Acts 17:11). In my experience, such searching has always confirmed and strengthened my trust in God.

Robert J. Tamasy is vice president of communications for Leaders Legacy, Inc., a non-profit corporation based in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S.A. A veteran journalist for 40 years, he is the author of Tufting Legacies (iUniverse); Business At Its Best: Timeless Wisdom from Proverbs for Today’s Workplace (River City Press); and has coauthored with David A. Stoddard, The Heart of Mentoring (NavPress). For more information, see www.leaderslegacy.com or his blogs, www.bobtamasy.blogspot.com and www.bobtamasy.wordpress.com.