2 Sam 18:4 8/18/80
A. Knowledge is the environment for thinking, which means knowledge of truth in three categories: the Gospel, Bible doctrine, and the laws of divine establishment.
B. You can only have thoughts which you personally understand. Your thoughts can be limited by your:
1. Lack of vocabulary and motivation to increase your vocabulary.
2. Lack of humility, the basic principle of academic discipline.
C. From understanding comes doctrine which is the environment for decision. Humility is the objectivity for application of doctrine by which good decisions are made.
D. If decisions are based on application of doctrine or reverse concentration, you continue to possess the freedom to make other decisions and even greater decisions.
E. If choices are based on arrogance, you limit your options and eventually run out of decisions so that nothing is left but the administration of divine discipline, or the administration of self-inflicted punishment by bad decisions.
F. Good decisions cannot be made inside the cosmic system.
G. Arrogance neutralizes genius, talent, great wisdom, ability, greatness, and/or the potential of any individual.
H. Therefore, good decisions are made in humility accompanied by thoughtfulness to others, objectivity, and flexibility.
I. David personally wanted to lead his troops in battle, but exercised great self-discipline and restrained his personal desires.
J. In humility and flexibility, David allowed the viewpoint of the army to overrule his personal desires. Such self-discipline is the practice of enforced humility and becomes the basis for historical wisdom.
K.
The standards of Bible doctrine and the filling of the Holy Spirit
always produce an enforced humility or self-discipline which is the essence of
great leadership. On the other hand, arrogance creates unreality which is
parlayed into hallucination. But humility faces reality.
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