day no. 17,512: right and wrong

"We have to start with the fact that we are always looking out at the world through our own eyes. And we think that we are seeing accurately, which may indeed be the case, but we are sometimes wrong. You don’t believe you are always right, but you always believe you’re right... Confronted with the question 'have you ever been wrong?' virtually everyone would acknowledge it in the abstract. But acknowledging it and budgeting for it are two different things." — Douglas Wilson, Athletics and the Christian Community #6

No one says, “I was wrong,” unless they think they’re right about that. So, even when we are confessing our failures, we are presuming to be succeeding in that assessment.

day no. 17,511: don't run in a hurry

“Don’t run in a hurry, run with a farmer’s patience.” — Brooks Potteiger

Runners should run, but not frantically. They should strive for the finish line, but not grow impatient in the meantime. Running includes a commitment to keep running. It isn't sprinting until you cannot continue, it is persevering in the running. Running is patient diligence.

2 Timothy 2:1-7

You then, my child, be strengthened by the grace that is in Christ Jesus, and what you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses entrust to faithful men, who will be able to teach others also. Share in suffering as a good soldier of Christ Jesus. No soldier gets entangled in civilian pursuits, since his aim is to please the one who enlisted him. An athlete is not crowned unless he competes according to the rules. It is the hard-working farmer who ought to have the first share of the crops. Think over what I say, for the Lord will give you understanding in everything.

Think it over. Be in it, but be in it for the long haul. Do not lift so little that you do not bring anything across the finish line, but don't lift so much that you cannot reach the finish line. Yoke yourself to Christ and carry what you can and more to the point, keep on going until the end.

Philippians 3:12-15

Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect: but I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus. Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. Let us therefore, as many as be perfect, be thus minded: and if in any thing ye be otherwise minded, God shall reveal even this unto you.

Do not run like someone who doesn't have to run, but do not run like someone who has lost sight of the finish line.

day no. 17,510: national blessings and curses

Revelation 2:14

I have a few things against thee, because thou hast there them that hold the doctrine of Balaam, who taught Balac to cast a stumblingblock before the children of Israel, to eat things sacrificed unto idols, and to commit fornication.

If you can't beat them, get them to beat themselves. Balaam could not curse the people of Israel, so he convinced them to curse themselves. God was not out of to get His people, but Balaam knew that there were things He would not tolerate, regardless of who was doing them. So, he enticed them to do that which would obligate God to act against them. 

The long and short of it is this. America was and is a Christian nation established by their covenant with Him. Covenants have blessings and curses that attend them. We are in the predicament we are in because we have obligated God to curse us by violating the terms and conditions of the covenant. Our enemies cannot curse us or conquer us, but we can and will be cursed and conquered if we abandon God and the blessings that come in obeying Him.