A Lesson Learned: by Robin Thomas
When I was in college I took a tennis class. I had always wanted to learn to play but the stars had never aligned, so here was my chance. The coach was trying to teach us to score and she wanted the class to move from one side of the court to the other depending on what the call would be. Long story short, Robin on one side, class on the other. I would not move until she could prove to me why that particular play made sense. I was not going to move just because everyone else did. Stubborn, I wrote the book.
It reminds me of the scene in the Taming of the Shrew (Act 4, Scene 5) by Shakespeare commonly known as the Sun/Moon scene. Petruchio tries to convince Katherine that it is night when she knows it is day. He is attempting to break her spirit, but Katherine is stubborn.
Petruchio: Come on, i’God’s name, once more toward our father’s.
Good Lord, how bright and goodly shines the moon!
Katherine: The moon? The sun! It is not moonlight now.
Petruchio: I say it is the moon that shines so bright.
Katherine: I know it is the sun that shines so bright.
Petruchio: Now by my mother’s son, and that’s myself, it shall be moon, or star or whatever I list. Or e’er I journey to your father’s house…
Hortensio: (To Katherine) Say as he says or we shall never go.
Katherine: Forward, I pray, since we have come so far. And be it the sun, or moon, or
whatever you please. And if you please to call it a rush candle, henceforth I vow it shall be so for me.
Petruchio: I say it is the moon.
Katherine: I know it is the moon.
Petruchio: Nay, then you lie. It is the blessed sun.
Katherine: Then God be blessed, it is the blessed sun. But sun it is not, when you say it is not. And the moon changes even as your mind. What you will have it named even that it is, and so it shall be so for Katherine.
Katherine does not give in until Hortensio asks her to just tell him what he wants to hear so they can be on their way.
This is a classic example of losing the battle to win the war.
In Galatians 5, the Apostle Paul lists the fruit of the Spirit: love, joy, peace…etc. The qualities that Christians emulate when they are filled with the Holy Spirit. Last time I checked stubbornness was not on that list.
Stubbornness is a close cousin of pride, and pride got Lucifer kicked out of heaven and Adam and Eve booted out of the garden.
There are two sides to this coin. One side is standing up for what you believe the other side is fighting to be right. I think of how much trouble Jesus could have saved himself if he had just proved that he was right. BUT HE DIDN’T.
Jesus gave up the battle to win the war! And thank heaven for that because it is only through him that we have been reconciled to God and saved.
If Jesus had battled everyone that made an incorrect statement he would have never made it out of Nazareth, let alone saved the world.
Jesus said (Matthew 5:9), "Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.
I think Jesus said this not because being right is wrong, but because sometimes you have to ask yourself if being “right” will give you peace?
Peace is infinitely more valuable than winning.
The WAR is the battleground between heaven and hell.
The Apostle Paul says to the Corinthians, “And I, brethren, when I came to you, did not come with excellence of speech or of wisdom declaring to you the testimony of God. For I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified” (1 Cor. 2:1-2).
“Paul was a man who had the equivalent of two Ph.D.s in theology by the time he was 21 years of age, a man who wrote with great insight on the whole scope of theology. Nevertheless, he said that the focal point of his teaching, preaching, and ministry among the Corinthians was simply “Jesus Christ and Him crucified.” –R.C. Sproul
To win the WAR all you need to know is that Christ died for you. That is worth standing up for, so any battle that you need to lose along the way is merely a strategy.
Katherine gave up the battle of the sun and moon but she won the war of Petruchio’s heart.
What do you need to give up in battle so that you can win the war?
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