Oliver O'Donovan (in an unpublished talk) speaks of the kind of word we need, what kind of concept of our actions, to act well.



"It will be a descriptive word, that tells us of the world into which we must act.
It will be a commanding word, directing us to the action we are to perform.
It will be a reconciling word, accommodating our act to its context in the world.
It will be a word of judgment, displaying what is "right" in the world in which we are to act.
It will be a prophetic word, disclosing that act which is in the purposes of God.
It will be a reasonable word, illuminating the practical logic of our situation.
It will be a saving word, delivering us from the self-destruction of acting wrongly.
It will be a condemning word, excluding the way of self-destruction. "

We can look for this word in our own context and circumstances, but then we aren't really acting, simply reacting, or worse, determined.
We can attempt to derive this word from our own judgement, but the anxiety of failure, shame and self-destruction loom over such a self-justifying project.

Ultimately we need to be given such a word
"Where and how does God give us this word? In announcing himself to us as our God. He
announces himself to us as our God in the act by which he elected Israel to its vocation in the economy of salvation, and in the act by which he elected Jesus as the Servant of the Lord. God announces himself as the law of our action as, and not in any other way than, he announces himself as the God of Israel and the Father of the Lord Jesus. All our active life follows upon that announcement, which is attested to us by prophets and apostles. Their testimony is given to us in the Holy Scriptures, which are God's chosen means, in conjunction with the sacramental practices of the church, of making his self-announcement known to the church in all ages. The Scriptures are not themselves God's self-announcement, which is the historical realities of Israel and Jesus; but they are not something different from God's self- announcement. They are the divine administration of the self-announcement."

Since we preach this Word, from His administration, O'Donovan's categories are gold for our preaching, not simply because they are good motivational tools, but they are part of God's self-announcement.