day no. 16,734: a well-deserved win

"The events of war are uncertain, We cannot ensure success, but we can deserve it." — John Adams

A win can be well-deserved even when it is lost.

Courage cannot guarantee an outcome, but it can confirm success as deserved or defeat as undeserved. If a man was guaranteed a particular outcome, courage would no longer be required. But courage is the application of a moral obligation to fight for what is right whether or not one wins. Courage can lose the war, but it cannot lose respect. We cannot ensure an outcome by being the kind of men we ought to be, but by doing so, we ensure that we were the kind of men who could win without blushing.

2 Chronicles 19:11

Deal courageously, and may the LORD be with the upright!

We fight for the Lord is with us. We lay our lives down for His Name and pray that He protects them through the fray, but whatever the result of the fray, we say, "Thy will be done," and prove ourselves worthy of victory or legacy... or both.

"No one can guarantee success in war, but only deserve it." — Winston Churchill

By grace through faith in Christ alone, we can be the kind of men who wear the title of saint well. Saints sometimes shut the mouths of lions and sometimes are shut inside them. Saints sometimes escape from prison and sometimes die inside one. The saint is not determined by the outcome of his circumstances but the outcome of his faith, which saves his soul and sends a message to all onlookers that Christ is King for whom we count it an honor to live or die.

Revelation 12:11, 1 Peter 1:9

They have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, for they loved not their lives even unto death... obtaining the outcome of [their] faith, the salvation of [their] souls.

Sometimes a saint saves his skin, but he always saves his soul. He is prepared to lose his life because in Christ he already has eternal life.

Daniel 3:16-18

Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego answered and said to the king, “O Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to answer you in this matter. If this be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of your hand, O king. But if not, be it known to you, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up.”

Courage is facing down temptations and tempters with certainty of faith and uncertainty of outcome. The saint knows that God can save and so sticks by Him though fully prepared to suffer for a moment at the hands of men if it comes to that.

2 Samuel 10:12

Be of good courage, and let us play the men for our people, and for the cities of our God: and the LORD do that which seemeth Him good.