I ramble on this one

Greatness appeals to the future. If I can be firm enough to-day to do right, and scorn eyes, I must have done so much right before as to defend me now. Be it how it will, do right now. Always scorn appearances, and you always may. - Ralph Waldo Emerson

1) “What are the costs of inaction?” I find it can be helpful to fight fear with fear. Fears of acting are easily and immediately articulated by our “lizard brains” (thanks Seth) e.g. what if I fail? what if I look stupid? If you systematically and clearly list the main costs of inaction, they will generally overshadow your immediate fears.



2) “What kind of person do I want to be?” I’ve found this question to be extremely useful. I admire people who act bravely and decisively. I know the only way to join their ranks is to face decisions that scare me. By seeing my actions as a path to becoming something I admire, I am more likely to act and make the tough calls.


3) “In the event of failure, could I generate an alternative positive outcome?” Imagine yourself failing to an extreme. What could you learn or do in that situation to make it a positive experience? We are generally so committed to the results we seek at the outset of a task or project that we forget about all the incredible value and experience that comes from engaging the world proactively, learning, and improving our circumstances as we go along.
 
What are the costs of inaction?  What kind of person do I want to be?  In the event of failure, could I generate an alternative positive outcome? All of these questions are awesome questions. 
 
The last question is one I often ask myself to frame a decision.  Can I frame the outcome, understand what bad will look like and decide to continue?  If the decision is a bad decision I recognize that my next decision will be better than this one because I will no more in the future than I do right now.  It helps me to keep moving forward when I think this way.
 
The first question is equally good.  What will it cost me if I do not act?  In my case, fear could have stopped me from starting my business.  Rational thought could have stopped me.  Examination of my competition could have caused me to stop.  I am scared to think of how little it might have taken to stop me from acting, from starting.  Just a little more than I had and I would not have the abundance that is overflowing right now.
 
What kind of person do I want to be?  As I walked into the unknown, starting the construction company that I am half owner of, I have watched myself grow as a person out of necessity.  Its just like 20 somethings who get married and then have kids.  The responsibility they take on, by risking a committed relationship and risking having children of their own, that responsibility crafts them, and causes them to grow.  Taking risk does that.  It causes us to face our fears, to face problems and as we face them, solve them, walk through them, we grow.  Not only do we grow, but we begin to think differently about ourselves.  I began to have faith in myself and faith that God loved me.  I am not sure how this happened, and in part it happened as I began to prosper in spite of things about myself that were not yet changing. 
 
I began to learn about God's grace, that God loves us. God's grace came through Jesus and his perfect life, followed by suffering and Crucifixion, which because he was perfect was injustice.  It was such a huge injustice that it nullified the penalty that we deserve.  In Ephesians 2:15 it says that Jesus did this by abolishing the law of commandments and ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace.
 
Now some think this is referring to Jewish ceremonial law, but I think differently.  When we trust in Jesus, his crucifixion and Resurrection causes the law to no longer apply to us, which is a heresy in the church called antinomianism.  So even when our flesh fails, it does not fail against a set of rules, because they have been abolished.  But he does not leave us in a lawless state, which I think the heresy does and why so much of the evangelical community gets weirded out at this point.  No he puts a new creation within us, this new creation is Jesus, the Holy Spirit, and its also us.  And here is the big deal, it cannot sin, it does not sin, because it is Jesus Christ himself, one with us.  The mystery of the ages, the marriage of Jesus and his bride who is us.  And yet while on earth, there is a duality that exists.
 
So as I trust Jesus to provide all that I need, to make me sufficient for the task he has called me to and recognize my flesh is broken, I have both humility and confidence in Christ in me the hope of Glory.  As I take risk on the desires I find with in this part of me, I can have confidence that God will bless me along with His son.  Even in hardship, I can still trust that God will not let me fail in the end.  And because God has eternity I can by faith trust him no matter the outcome.  Martin Luther says, by human reason alone, one cannot think that there is no God or that he is not good, until one considers eternity.
 
I feel very off topic at this point, but doctrine and scripture have always been something I found in my heart that I cared about.  It has always been something that I wanted to have a universal theory that pulled everything together, much like Einstein was pursuing in physics, only I am trying to understand it in the realm of human effort, human faith, life, God, etc.