Have Faith To Prevail, With Discipline To Confront Reality
Word-Of-The-Day: ‘(15) The person with the Spirit makes judgments about all things, but such a person is not subject to merely human judgments, (16) for, “Who has known the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him?” But we have the mind of Christ.‘ (1 Corinthians 2:15-16); ‘The wisdom of the prudent is to give thought to their ways, but the folly of fools is deception.’ (Proverbs 14:8)
There are some ‘quotable quotes’ that, fitting in with Biblical Truth, I try to remember daily to follow. I’ve mentioned before Vice Admiral James Stockdale’s quote, “This is a very important lesson. You must never confuse faith that you will prevail in the end—which you can never afford to lose—with the discipline to confront the most brutal facts of your current reality, whatever they might be.” VADM Stockdale was a POW in Vietnam, so he had to have great discipline to face his reality (a captive tortured during his imprisonment) with his Faith that the Lord would somehow, some way, return him home or take away his suffering. Stockdale’s strength in his Faith in Christ allowed him to be even keeled; as others had died out of losing hope over hearing reports of imminent release followed by the disappointment of continued captivity, Stockdale did not allow his hopes to be raised by rumor or dashed by reality, but accepted his situation as it was.
Stockdale’s mindset was similar to the verses of 1 Corinthians 2:15-16; we who are in with Christ have the Spirit who can aid us in determining a path to face the realities we daily face. It is human nature to react with the realization of ‘hope’ with overwhelming feelings, only to fall into depressing disappointment when that hope fails to materialize (think Clark Griswold’s hope of a big Christmas check, only to receive the ‘Jelly of the Month’ membership). We as Christians can fall into this despair as well; it is likely Stockdale had moments of disappointment over his captivity, but it was his Faith in Christ, which we all should rely on, to get us back on track to move forward despite our failings.
We cannot allow ourselves to be like the stereotypical ostriches, who bury their heads in the sand to avoid seeing (and dealing) with the dangers surrounding them. (Ostriches don’t really do this, by the way.) In Proverbs 14:8, the ‘folly of fools’ is the deception they have in believing ‘all is well’ despite the reality of issues surrounding them. We Floridians may want to believe hurricanes are not a threat and not prepare for them. The ‘wisdom of the prudent’ is to take the steps, whether we want to or not, to prepare for hurricanes to come, whether it looks like they are coming or not.
Whether it is hurricanes or other disasters, natural or man-made, that may come, realize what is happening all around, pray for the Lord’s discernment and wisdom, and BE PREPARED, BE AWARE, and PLAN ACCORDINGLY. As an old Army bubba said to me one time, ‘If you fail to prepare, you’re preparing to fail.’ Prepare mentally by accepting the situations around you; prepare physically with the goods, supplies and services needed to survive and live through the situations around you; and most importantly, prepare Spiritually by praying, studying the Word of the Lord, and engage in fellowship with other believers to keep the Faith needed to survive and live through the situations around you.
