I simply cannot afford to be ignorant of the monumental challenges that constantly batter and beset the world around me. But neither can I afford to be ignorant of the cancer of pessimism that constantly rallies the entire weight of its defeatist character in an all-out effort to convince me that the abilities inherent in mankind are far, far too inadequate to challenge the challenges. And it might be that the greatest challenge of all is to challenge this sort of thinking.

I am probably no more disgruntled with my fellowman than he is with me.

I do not doubt the ability of mankind to aspire to lofty ideals and the most pristine of principles. But what I doubt is the willingness of mankind to incur the sacrifices involved in moving from aspiring these things to actually embracing them. And in such a conundrum as this, I would suggest that to stop at ‘aspiring’ and never move to ‘embracing’ is without a doubt the greatest sacrifice of all.

Without a firm moral restraint and a bold adherence to principled ethics, nothing within the power of men will save us from the power of mankind.

We might wish to take note of the fact that it is within the impoverishment of our own thinking that we create these innumerable strategies which we brazenly herald as the means to mankind’s salvation. And the means by which to halt the incessant travesties that this failed reality repeatedly births is to acknowledge the impoverishment of our relationship with the God who has already secured our salvation.

Mankind is on a mission to free itself from a God whose mission is to free us from ourselves. And if our mission prevails, we won’t.

God doesn’t want us to focus on what mankind has done, but on what He plans to do.

Unlike mankind, I have concluded that God never guesses. And unlike mankind, I have likewise concluded that God never makes mistakes that He’s left trying to guess His way out of.

It’s not that mankind is failing. Rather, it’s that mankind has failed to understand that failure is most often a choice based on the belief that we cannot succeed.