Warning Against First Instinct

Warning Against “That First Instinct”

The following is from the commencement address at The Citadel, given by
General Peter Pace, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, on May 6, 2006:
Check your moral compass frequently. I have seen it both in
combat and in peace. If you do not know who you are walking into
a situation, you may not like who you are when you're done. When
I was a lieutenant in Vietnam, I lost Lance Corporal Guido
Ferranaro from Bethpage, New York, a 19-year-old Marine, to a
sniper – the first Marine I’d ever lost in combat. I was filled with
rage, and I called in an artillery strike on the village from which
the sniper fired. Between the time that I called in the strike and the
rounds were fired, my platoon sergeant didn’t say a word, he just
looked at me. And I realized I was doing the wrong thing, and I
called off the artillery strike, and we did what we should’ve done,
which was to sweep through the village. All we found in that
village were women and children.
I do not know how I could live with myself today if I had carried
that first instinct forward. The time to decide who you are and
what you will let yourself do is not when somebody gets shot, it is
before you get in that situation so you have an anchor to hold on
to. This applies elsewhere.
Though many of us have never experienced the combat situation General Pace
describes, most of us know what he means about “that first instinct.” We can
recall specific circumstances where our first reaction was not the best. It may
have been temptation to react with vengeance. It could have been some powerful
seduction into other sins of passion or gratification. Or maybe someone in a
group offended you, and your impulse was to denounce or destroy the entire
group. Often, the devil puts before us some temptation and his hope is we will not
think through the consequences. His purpose is to provoke that first instinct.
There is no need to be a victim of our instincts! God wants us to know we are
capable of better things. Building on commitment and attitude and with training
from the Word, we can prepare ourselves for right responses.
- Warren E. Berkley

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What Great Leaders Sometimes Experience

Moses had the qualities of a great leader . . .
Impeccable integrity.
Vision - a clear sense of mission. He knew where he was going.
Courage to face hardship and adversity.
Persistence and determination to overcome difficulties and obstacles.
A humble spirit - open to advice from others and the counsel of God.
Willingness to delegate and share responsibility.

A servant’s heart. God repeatedly referred to him as “Moses, my servant.”
Concern for the welfare of his people. When judgment came on Israel
because of their sins, he pleaded with God in their behalf.
Yet, Moses lived with constant conflict and bitter criticism.

- Paul Powell, Handling Conflict

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Those “Hard” Scriptures

Twice recently, and more times than I can count in the past, I have been in a
Bible class where we wrestled with a passage of scripture that challenged our
understanding. Quite often it involves something written by the apostle Paul.
I comfort myself in the knowledge that the apostle Peter, while recognizing Paul’s
letters as “scripture,” also observed that “some things in them are hard to
understand.” - 2Pet 3:16
Consider the interesting observations by the esteemed commentator James
MacKnight concerning Paul’s writing style:
A concise unadorned style in preaching and writing, though
accompanied with some obscurity, was, in the apostle’s situation,
preferable to the clear and elegant manner of writing practiced by
the Grecian orators. (1Cor 1:17; 2:4).
The obscure manner of writing used by the apostle Paul, though
the natural effect of his own comprehensive genius, may have been
designed for the very purpose of rendering some of his passages
difficult, that, by the pains necessary to the right understanding of
them, their meaning, when found, might enter the deeper into his
reader’s mind. The obscurity of Scriptures may likewise have been
intended to make the exercise of honesty, impartiality, and care,
necessary in studying the revelations of God.
The most important passages of his writings have the form of
aphorism, it is perhaps, no real disadvantage, because on that
very account, these passages may be the more easily committed to
memory, even by persons who have not learned to read.
All of this may be what caused a brother to tell me years ago, “I have plans for the
first thousand years of eternity – I’m going to discuss Romans with Paul.”
- Leonard White

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Failure is the opportunity to begin again,
more intelligently. - Henry Ford

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