Discourage vs Courage

Well by now many of us are getting discouraged about our goals for the year. They seemed so reachable 2 or 3 days ago and now they seem impossible. 1 Corinthians 16:13 says "Be on your guard; stand firm in your faith, be courageous; be strong." We should make note that the verse does not simply say to "be courageous." It starts by stating to "be on your guard." I do not know the first thing about being a soldier, but I think the courage of a solider has a lot to do with being on guard. A solider would be foolish to attempt to be courageous, without being on the lookout for things that would be dangerous. His courage comes from being informed and being smart about the dangers he will face. He will have a plan. Because I am trying to eat healthy, I will use that for my example. I will lesson my discouragement if I am on guard with the food or situations that will be my downfall. For example, I started this year with a specific "box" in mind of what I would allow myself to eat. If I did not put chips in my box, then I need to be on guard against chips being in front of me, surrounding me. The next part of the verse says to “stand firm.” To stand firm in my faith means that I will trust that God will give me a way to escape when confronted with a really bad food choice. Faith implies going all the way in your belief. This is not a job for sissies! No one ever promised us that changing a destructive habit would be easy. It takes courage. Obviously, we will face discouragement. But we do not have to stay in that mode. We CAN turn things around.