"The character that takes command in
moments of crucial choices has already been
determined by a thousand other choices made
earlier in seemingly unimportant moments. It has
been determined by all the 'little' choices of
years past by all those times when the voice of
conscience was at war with the voice of
temptation, whispering the lie that 'it really
doesn't matter.' It has been determined by all the
day-to-day decisions made when life seemed easy
and crisis seemed far away the decisions that,
piece by piece, bit by bit, developed habits of
discipline or of laziness; habits of
self-sacrifice or self-indulgence; habits of duty
and honor and integrity or dishonor and shame."
President Ronald Reagan said that in 1993, on the
eve of his Alzheimer's disease "the sunset of my
life," as he called it.
This was as true in Reagan's life as it was
2,000 years ago, for the apostle Paul similarly
said, "Don't you know that when you offer
yourselves to someone to obey him as slaves, you
are slaves to the one whom you obey whether you
are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to
obedience, which leads to righteousness?" The
little choices we make now will determine how we
will make our more important choices later. Reagan
knew this. As people swayed by emotions, fears,
and at times little foresight, we sometimes regard
the seemingly small choices in our life as
inconsequential. Reagan knew that the little
choices we make in everyday life will affect the
rest of our life. Just as importantly, they also
affect the lives of
others.
English novelist and playwright John
Masefield said over a century ago, "All that I
rightly think or do, or make or bless or curse, is
curse or blessing justly due for sloth or effort
in the past. My life's a statement of the sum, of
vice indulged or overcome, and as I journey on the
roads, I shall be helped and healed and blessed.
Good words shall cheer and be as goads to urge to
heights as not guessed. My road shall be the road
I made; all that I gave shall be repaid." It's
easy to take short cuts or cheap shots, but the
end does not always justify the means. Don't give
your opponents any ammunition. As Reagan did, keep
the end goal in mind and firmly stick to your
course without compromising your principles or
methods.
From most sources who knew President Ronald
Reagan over the course of his long life and
career, the one thing they all say about Reagan
was that he was consistent, and that he always
tried to do the right thing, no matter the
situation and no matter the cost to himself. He
persevered in the face of great opposition. Many
of his advisers and close family members at
times, including his wife told him that we
couldn't win the Cold War. Most people thought
that we should not provoke the Soviet Union, but
rather that we should pursue some form of
non-aggressive coexistence. Reagan thought
otherwise. He thought the Soviet Union was an evil
empire. Public opinion was against him. His
political career seemed to be at stake. However,
he believed in his heart that he was put on earth
for a purpose, and when he narrowly escaped death
in an assassination attempt just nine weeks into
his first term, he came to believe that God had
spared his life for a very special purpose to
defeat communism and restore America's morale.
Reagan devoted the rest of his life to God's
purpose for his life as he saw the light. Reagan
then followed through on this commitment as God
gave him the light.
Former Reagan speechwriter and author Peggy
Noonan says of Reagan: "In a time of malice, he
was not malicious; in a time of lies, he did not
falsify; in a time of great pressure, he didn't
bend or break; in a time of disingenuousness, he
was clear and candid about where he stood and why;
and in a time when people just gave up after a
while and changed the subject, he remained on the
field through the long haul." Similarly, Hebrews
12:1-3 says, "[L]et us throw off everything that
hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and
let us run with perseverance the race marked out
for us... for consider Him who endured such
hostility from sinners against Himself, lest you
become weary and discouraged in your souls." I
like the way my pastor John Sullivan once
commented on this. He said that "God rewards those
who hang in there." In the current struggles
against abortion, gay "rights," and the
secularization of America, etc, we must not let
the occasional victories won by the other side get
to us. We must not let the current tide of moral
relativism in the land deter us. Like Reagan, we
must stay the course. If we abandon the fight, the
other side wins. It's as simple as that. According
to Exodus 14:13, we, like President Reagan, are
encouraged to "stand by and see the salvation of
the LORD...."
The prophet Isaiah says of Jesus, "Because
the Sovereign LORD helps me, I will not be
disgraced. Therefore I have I set my face like
flint." Reagan also set his face like flint
unbending and unyielding in the face of great
difficulty. Imagine if Reagan had folded under the
pressure if he had decided that winning the Cold
War and lessening the risk of a global nuclear
holocaust wasn't worth the risk to his political
career! Yet in many ways Reagan was an ordinary
man who believed God and found His purpose for his
life. He then acted on it and stayed the course.
Reagan knew the stakes, and he gave much thought
to the problems at hand, and prior to the
presidency he wrote many treatises on the
important issues of his day thinking them
through in depth.
However, knowing is not enough, and Reagan
therefore put his beliefs into action. The long
haul seems difficult to us because we aren't
always looking with eyes of faith at the final
product. Proverbs says, "Where there is no vision,
the people perish." Reagan had a God-given vision
and then went for it 100%. We must obtain a vision
for America and our communities and then we must
undertake our mission wholeheartedly as the
founding fathers did and as Reagan did. We must
persevere in spite of adversity. We must also
support those leaders who are in the thick of the
fight, whether we agree with them on every little
point or not. We need to support exemplary leaders
even though we may not approve of their entire
record. We might even disagree with their
delivery, but they need our continued
support.
Reagan forgave his enemies, and this
allowed him to continue the fight without his
actions and speech being colored by anger or
malice. When Reagan was in the hospital emergency
room after John Hinckley tried to assassinate him,
he said, "I can't ask God to heal Jim [Brady] and
the others and at the same time feel hatred for
the man who shot us." It is sometimes very hard to
forgive and pray for those who oppose us, and who
are actively dismantling America, but that is what
we must do if we expect God to bless our efforts.
This principle is not "politically correct," but
it is nevertheless
correct.
Reagan genuinely cared about people. Once,
an eighty-three year lady named Francis Green, who
was a long-time contributor to the Republican
Party albeit just a few dollars here and there
was mistakenly invited to a White House dinner
where well-heeled contributors would get to meet
with the President. She spent every penny she had
to buy a train ticket and then made the
cross-country train trip to Washington D.C., to
meet her president. She rented a room in a hotel,
and then on the appointed date, showed up at the
White House. At the gate, the marine guard told
her that her name was not on the list. "But I was
invited!" she said. Heartbroken, she went back to
her hotel, but somehow President Reagan found out
about it. Mrs. Green was invited back to the White
House the next day. She is led to the Oval Office
and enters. President Reagan the most powerful
man in the world at that time rises from his
chair and says "Francis! Those darn computers
fouled up again! Had I known you were coming I
would have come out there to get you myself!" They
both then sat down and chatted about California.
Here he was, the most powerful man in the world,
and yet he took the time to make one little old
lady feel important. What a lesson! We mustn't
lose sight of the ones among us who need our help
and our compassion.
Not long after President Reagan left
office, the Berlin Wall collapsed and communism in
the Soviet Union, as we once knew it, also
collapsed. Reagan's moral compass had pointed the
way, and his courage and persistence won the day.
We have the same moral compass that Reagan did,
for the apostle Peter said, "His divine power has
given us everything we need for life and godliness
through our knowledge of Him who called us by His
own glory and goodness."
One of Reagan's more palpable rewards for
his perseverance was to be able to speak to
Russian college students in Moscow. Imagine that,
the number one enemy of communism President
Ronald Reagan was now speaking to Russian
college students on the virtues of freedom and
democracy! This was unimaginable just a few short
years before. His consistency and perseverance, as
well as a God-wrought moral compass, helped
achieve the unachievable for Reagan and America.
In a sense, Reagan was truly a heroic president,
but necessarily he was first a heroic and gallant
man, as Proverbs 16:32 says, "[H]e who
rules his spirit, is greater than he who captures
a city."
Reagan overcame evil with good. He said he
wanted to extend the "hand of friendship" to
Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev. We've seen this
same spirit in action with the late Pope John Paul
II reaching out to those who many have despised
or cast aside. John Paul reached out to those who
disagreed with everything he stood for, and he was
the first man to openly and officially apologize
to the Jews for the church's inaction during the
holocaust. This opened the path for much
reconciliation. Reagan did the same thing with
Gorbachev, and we must do the same thing with our
"enemies" if we expect to win in the end. Reverend
Charles Simpson once said, "It's hard for a man to
resist mercy." Indeed it is. Think back on your
own life who had the greatest impact on your
life? Those who displayed fortitude and
fearlessness? Sure, but also those who showed you
understanding and
compassion.
Reagan tirelessly and selflessly reached
out to others. He said, "I hope you're all
Republicans!" to the hospital staff around him
after being shot. He always put others at rest
he was concerned about their feelings, not his
own. This selfless and honest attitude even put
his detractors at ease. You don't often see
liberals besmirching Reagan on T.V., do you?
Hardly ever. It's very hard to belittle a truly
good man without looking bad yourself.
Nevertheless, there will be times when we will
face tribulation and persecution because of our
faith, but in the end it will be mercy, love, and
compassion that will rule the day, as they did
with Reagan.
Reagan didn't grow complacent with the ones
he loved. He wrote love letters to Nancy nearly
every day. He learned from an earlier period in
his life when he said, "My loneliness was not from
being unloved, but rather from not
loving."
For many of Reagan's battles, the desired
outcomes came long after the battles were fought,
and some came too late for him to enjoy
personally, but Reagan knew that God was faithful.
I personally think that Reagan was not so much
called to be successful as he was called to be
faithful faithful to God and to the charge given
him. He then left the outcome to
God.
In your public and personal battles, stay
in the fight and do not let the ferocity of the
fight by those who would attack you or dismantle
America deter you. It's partly an illusion. They
are few, but they are loud. The devil is a roaring
lion. They do not represent the heart of America.
They do not represent the heart of
God.
And finally, Ralph Waldo Emerson said, "The
characteristic of heroism is its persistency. All
men have wandering impulses, fits and starts of
generosity. But when you have chosen your part,
abide by it, and do not weakly try to reconcile
yourself with the
world."