Courage

For the past several years we have been mailing out to our church families, a quarterly copy of the devotional: "The Word For You Today". In today's blog I'm going to borrow a little from the devotional for July 22nd.

General Omar Bradley said, "Bravery is the capacity to perform properly, even when scared half to death". It's easy to be brave when you are strong; it's much more difficult when you are weak. We mistakenly believe that learning is passive, that we learn by reading a book or listening to a speaker. The learning process is summarized in these 5 steps: 1) Observe, 2) Act, 3) Evaluate, 4) Readjust, 5) Go back to step two.

Sometimes, courage involves getting it wrong before you get it right! And it always takes the 'high' road. The frustrating thing is that too many never seem to 'get it'. We must always remember that while God created the earth for us, it is not 'our' playground, but it is His! The Bible speaks about "For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them" Ephesians 2:10.

Dr. James B. Mooneyham writes, "When we keep score of wrongs committed against us, we reveal a lack of maturity". Theodore Roosevelt once said, "The most important single ingredient in the formula of success, is knowing how to get a long with people... Remember this: committing an injury puts you below your enemy; taking revenge makes you even with him; forgiving him sets you above".

As Christians and especially in ministry, we must be; "wise as serpents and harmless as doves" Matthew 10:16. We need to ask ourselves today, How am I doing on that today? I think we get it backwards sometimes. Courage? Taking the 'high' road? Making mistakes along the way? You bet we all need the courage to do the right thing! When you come to the 'Y' in the road ahead, pick the 'high' road, it will lead you to a better end!

Blessings,
MT