What Time is it Anyway

Choose your battles. In order to win a war you must decide which battles you will fight, and from which you will retreat.

The Allied Forces won in World War II because God wanted them to win. That is true. If it weren't, they wouldn't have won. But the Allies didn't fight every battle. They retreated from Operation Market Garden (where the Germans handed it to them pretty bad). They held back from a full invasion of Japan. Top Command even allowed innocent people to die in order to hide the fact that the code-breakers had broken the German code.

They didn't fight every battle. Maybe they should have fought some they didn't, and maybe they should have retreated from some they fought. But the point is, they consciously chose not to fight every battle. Why? Because they knew they could not win every battle.

It's like that with civil rights, discrimination, harassment, and things like that. Be careful which battles you fight. Some just cannot be won. Of course, some need to be fought despite having no chance for victory. (Remember the Alamo?)

It has been my observation that nothing hurts a cause so much as its members going overboard to proclaim the innocence of one of its members when that member is actually guilty. Prejudice and hatred may be the motivation behind the opposition's assault, but if the member is guilty, be careful how you defend. Concentrate on the real prejudice without demonstrating your own. Remember, the member is actually guilty. Let that stand on its own, and seek forgiveness if need be. But don't claim innocence by reason of someone else's hatred. Their prejudice and hatred doesn't change what was done.

Don't find yourself arguing a lie in order to crush prejudice and hatred. That only hurts your cause in the long run.

Through Solomon, God confirms the concept of choosing battles.

Ecclesiates (chapter three) New King James Version

[1] To everything there is a season, A time for every purpose under heaven:

[2] A time to be born, and a time to die; A time to plant, and a time to pluck what is planted;

[3] A time to kill, and a time to heal; A time to break down, and a time to build up;

[4] A time to weep, and a time to laugh; A time to mourn, and a time to dance;

[5] A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones; A time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;

[6] A time to gain, and a time to lose; A time to keep, and a time to throw away;

[7] A time to tear, and a time to sew; A time to keep silence, and a time to speak;

[8] A time to love, and a time to hate; A time of war, and a time of peace.

So the real question is this: What time is it?