If you want to win the battles of life, you must cling to what you know is true, and the one and only thing you can always be sure is true is what God says. Beware! The truth won’t always look true, won’t always feel true, won’t always seem true, but the truth will always be true.

When arguing with an opponent, Abe Lincoln said, “Let me ask you this: how many legs does a cow have?” “Four, of course,” came the reply. “That’s right,” agreed Lincoln. “Now suppose you call the cow’s tail a leg; how many legs would the cow have?” “Why, five, of course,” was the reply. “Now, that’s where you’re wrong,” said Lincoln. “Calling a cow’s tail a leg doesn’t make it a leg.” [iii]

God’s truth is an anchor for your life, a constant in the constantly changing world. The battles in your life cannot be won by lies; you must steadfastly cling to what you know is true.

When the Russian author Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn was awarded the Nobel Prize in literature for his writing about the evils of the Soviet Union, he concluded his speech by quoting a Russian proverb: “One word of truth outweighs the whole world.”[iv]

            Are you holding on to what you know is true? Are you grounded in the truth of God’s Word, able to stand steadfast against the deceptions of the devil? Be steadfast. Hold on to what you know is true.  A second key to winning the battle is:

2.    Don’t retreat in the face of adversity. Be…immovable…

     Scientists tell us that in animals, there is what is called the fight or flight response. In the face of danger, most animals will run if they see a way of escape, and fight only if they feel cornered.

     Many of us wisely follow the same pattern: we’d prefer retreat to combat. Sometimes the wisest thing to do is walk away from a fight. As Vance Havner used to say any bulldog knows it can whip a skunk, but they also know it’s just not worth it.

     But there are times when the best thing to do is not to retreat, but to stand your ground and, if necessary, resist.

     You can see some of this in our culture. For a the past few decades, a small but very vocal minority have been working very hard to keep Christians quiet. They demand we keep our religions to ourselves. They don’t want us speaking up in the high school, college or university. They want to gag us when it comes to political or moral issues. If that weren’t enough, they demands we embrace things that God says He hates: divorce, sexual immorality, homosexuality, abortion, keeping prayer out of school, and the “all religions are equal” mindset. They tell us, in effect, to stand down or be trampled down by the weight of progress. We must make a choice, either to retreat or resist.