This is the final part of my series of reviews about Andy Stanley’s new book The Principle Of The Path. If you haven’t read the previous parts of this series, check them out here:

Thomas Nelson Book Review Bloggers Review
Extended Review – Part 1
Extended Review – Part 2 – The Heart Of The Matter
Extended Review – Part 3 – My Italian Job
Extended Review – Part 4 – The Story You Will Tell

In this last post, I will take a closer look at another one of the chapters that spoke to me the most.

Chapter 8: A Little Help From Our Friends

This chapter was perhaps the most inspiring (read: challenging) chapter in the book for me. This is the chapter that tells me to stop, look around, and get help.

Andy Stanley makes a very strong case here for the invaluable help from others for us to reach our desired destination. We can’t do it alone. We need the assistance of wise mentors; people who have been where we are, and have traveled further along the road to where we want to go.

The key to being successful isn’t to be smart, although that can help. Most successful people attribute their success to the collective wisdom and insight that they’ve received from others along the course of their path. Successful people are successful not because they know all of the answers. They are successful because they were willing to pay attention and apply the lessons learned from others.

We should not be shocked to discover that one of the primary avenues through which God directs us is the counsel of others.

Wise people listen and learn.

Take a look at these few passages from Proverbs, beginning with Proverbs 1:5:

A wise man will hear and increase in learning,
And a man of understanding will acquire wise counsel.

Proverbs 12:15:

The way of a fool is right in his own eyes,
But a wise man is he who listens to counsel.

Proverbs 13:10

Through insolence comes nothing but strife,
But wisdom is with those who receive counsel.

Proverbs 19:20

Listen to counsel and accept discipline,
That you may be wise the rest of your days.

Proverbs 11:14

Where there is no guidance the people fall,
But in abundance of counselors there is victory.

Proverbs 15:22

Without consultation, plans are frustrated,
But with many counselors they succeed.

And there are plenty of other passages we could add to this list.

Solomon was the wisest man who ever lived. His writings are full of solid, straightforward advice like this. Wise people listen to counsel. Fools don’t. Wise people live and experience the fullness of life. Fools don’t. Wise people accept the fact that they need help to make it to the right destination. Fools say “I don’t need anyone to tell me what to do.”

According to Solomon, we will never get to the place where we are so brilliant, so experienced, so wise that we no longer need input from other people. According to Solomon, the wise person is always listening. Always ready to heed the counsel of someone wiser than himself. That’s how you become wise. And that’s how you stay wise.

Put simply, wisdom means that we are willing to stop and ask for directions and help.

In what areas of your life do you need to stop and ask for directions? What parts of your life could use some help from someone wiser than you?

I know mine. I’m the first to admit my problem areas. And, I’m proud to say (in all humility, of course), I’ve been wise enough to ask for help in a couple of them. But I’m sure, if you asked my wife, she’d tell you of other areas where I need to ask for help and direction.

I just hope and pray that I stay wise enough to know that I need help and continue to seek counsel from others. Because success breeds pride. At least, it can. If you’re not guarding against it. And once pride is in you, it whispers in your ear, “You’ve made it this far; you don’t need any more help now.”

And then we stop listening.

It is next to impossible to hear the voice of God if we are not really listening to begin with. The best counsel in the world is wasted counsel if our minds are already made up.

I’m not sure about you, but when I have the attitude just described by Andy Stanley, my family calls me bull-headed. That’s not a glowing compliment.

The problem with being a fool is that we aren’t simply being a fool all by ourselves. When we refuse to heed the counsel of others and make poor decisions, those decisions affect the people around us.

At the end of the day, when you finally reap the results of your misguided (or unguided) decisions, you’re not the only one who suffers. Every decision we make that hurts us also hurts the people who love us most. And those who depend on us most will be hurt the most.

And the reverse is just as true. When we make great and wise decisions, those decisions affect the people around us as well.

So, if direction determines our destination, then we’d be wise to seek out wiser counsel before setting off on a fool’s journey.

Here’s a truth about accepting wisdom: Not a one of us will ever come to the point in our lives where we will no longer need wise counsel.

We will never outgrow the necessity for an objective view that a wise counselor can bring to the table. Remain open to the wisdom and advice of the wise people around you.

Let’s add a second layer to that truth. You will never reach your full potential without accepting the wise counsel of others.

Your knowledge, insight, and experience may put you miles ahead of the average person. But even then, you won’t reach your full potential apart from tapping into the knowledge, insight, and experience of those who are a step ahead of you.

God has placed incredibly wise people into your life and into mine. We have a responsibility to use them and their counsel of wisdom to help ourselves grow into the person God created us to be. They can help us reach the destination we are longing for.

Summary

The Principle Of The Path has been one of those earth-shaking, perception-shattering, eye-opening books for me.

Andy Stanley has opened my eyes to a principle that I see all around me and saturated in God’s Word. It’s not a new concept for me though. This principle has been floating through my head at some lever for several years. I knew objectively that the choices I make will affect my life goals and desires.

But it is so easy to live for the here and now, instead of the harder choice of living for the destination.

The Principle Of The Path is a book that I will keep handy. I plan on reading this again in several months to help me keep my eyes straight ahead, and my focus on the goal.

Hebrews 12:2:

Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith…

2 Corinthians 4:16-18:

Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.

May you have the strength, the courage, the fortitude, and the wisdom to do what it takes to make it to your destination!

If you are interested in reading The Principle Of The Path, by Andy Stanley, you can purchase it at Amazon.com.

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