Failure. It's a fact of life. Everyone fails. The young, the old, the rich, the poor. Smart people and fools. The famous and the not so famous. It's like death and taxes; It's inevitable. If you are a human being you will experience failure at some point in your life, and most of us will experience it many, many times.
Sometimes my failure is a result of not trying. Laziness, procrastination, lack of ambition. I either set myself up to fail from the beginning, or I try for awhile, but I can't keep up with what is necessary to complete the task, so I give up.
Other times my failure comes because the task is more than I can legitimately accomplish. I lack the skills, time, resources, brainpower, opportunity, or giftedness necessary. Maybe I bit off more than I can chew, or maybe others place heavy burdens on me. I give it my best effort, but my best simply isn't good enough, and failure is the result.
And then there's my favorite: Failure comes because others let me down or don't cooperate with my plans. I'm doing everything right. I've got my end of the bargain covered. I've sacrificed. I've gone the extra mile. I've done everything I can possibly do. But others aren't doing their part. A failed project that needed to be a group effort. A relationship that became one-sided. A difficult person that is impossible to please or guide or nurture or convince. The skeptic. The betrayer. The fool. The lazy person. The one I am trying so hard not to be! But my efforts alone aren't enough. It takes two, or ten, or many more to make things work, and it's not happening.
The Apostle Paul talked about failure, and he had experienced it many times. Sometimes, by his own admission, he was the problem. He was weak. He was wrong. He was arrogant. He needed a good humbling, and God gave it to him. Other times he was the victim of others' lack of understanding, patience, love, and belief. Often in his letters he pleads with his readers to hear what he is saying. To repent of their wrong thinking and wrong actions. To remember the message they received from him at first. To wake up and smell the coffee! And sometimes he was downright irritated with them at their lack of belief and the behaviors they were engaged in.
Paul was honest. He didn't hide how he really felt, and he also didn't hide the fact that his ministry was a difficult one. He had times of joy and triumph and success. But he also had times of failure and great hardship. In his second letter to the Corinthian church, he writes these words: We do not want you to be uninformed about the hardships we suffered...We were under great pressure, far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired even of life. Indeed, in our hearts we felt the presence of death.
Failure can feel like that, can't it? It's as inevitable as death, and sometimes it feels like death. The life is sucked out of us to the point of utter despair, deep pain, and a lack of desire to keep going. To give up. To stop trying. To throw in the towel and say, 'I'm done.'
But Paul wasn't finished. He had more to say...Paul always had more to say...But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God who raises the dead. He has delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us. On him we have set our hope...
Paul had realized something. He had realized that failure was an option. Sometimes life and ministry and people and circumstances and his own weaknesses were too much for him to handle on his own. It was too much for his team. It was too much for the churches he was trying to lead and encourage. But that was okay because failure was not the final nail in their coffin. It was simply an opportunity to be rescued. To depend on God. To trust Him. To be saved once again by Jesus, the author and perfecter of their faith.
Salvation is not a one-time deal. It's more than an escape from death and punishment. Salvation is a daily occurrence for those who put their hope in Jesus. We will fail. Others will fail us. Life is hard, and sometimes, even when we're doing everything right, failure is beating down on our door, and there is no escape. Failure comes. Failure threatens to swallow us up in death. The despair is so great. All hope seems lost.
But it's not. Something else Paul says in his first letter to the Corinthians is this: Love never fails. I think sometimes God deliberately puts me in a situation where it is impossible to succeed. Why? To teach me that it's okay to fail. It's okay if I'm wrong. It's okay if I don't measure up. Jesus said, "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and lift up his cross daily and follow me." What did the cross symbolize? Death, failure, a burden too heavy to carry. That's why He says, 'Don't rely on yourself, don't carry that burden, lift it up...that's what it means to follow Me.' That's what freedom in God's love looks like. Without failure, or threats of failure, I can never experience the fullness of His grace.
And when others fail me, I can extend that same grace to them, and mercy will win. We were not created to be perfect apart from God's righteousness, and we can't expect that from anyone else either. Trying to be perfect is idolatry because I am worshipping myself, not His holy perfection. Part of His holy perfection is my weakness that He puts back together with grace, love, mercy, and compassion. I may fail, but His love will never fail me. And our love for one another (after we have first received His unconditional love) will bring hope, healing, restoration, and joy.
I wrote last week about the words of hope Jesus had for 'the 'poor in spirit'. I believe failure is something that can empty our hearts like nothing else. Whether it's our own failure, or how others have failed us, we will become poor in spirit, sometimes gradually, and sometimes overnight. Am I talking to anybody here?
If I may be so bold to extend Jesus' list of those who are blessed, I believe He would say...'Blessed are those who fail, for they will be called My beloved ones...and they will believe it.'
We do not want you to be uninformed about the hardships we suffered. We were under great pressure, far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired even of life. Indeed, in our hearts we felt the presence of death. But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God who raises the dead. He has delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us. On him we have set our hope...(2 Corinthians 1:8-10)
Sometimes my failure is a result of not trying. Laziness, procrastination, lack of ambition. I either set myself up to fail from the beginning, or I try for awhile, but I can't keep up with what is necessary to complete the task, so I give up.
Other times my failure comes because the task is more than I can legitimately accomplish. I lack the skills, time, resources, brainpower, opportunity, or giftedness necessary. Maybe I bit off more than I can chew, or maybe others place heavy burdens on me. I give it my best effort, but my best simply isn't good enough, and failure is the result.
And then there's my favorite: Failure comes because others let me down or don't cooperate with my plans. I'm doing everything right. I've got my end of the bargain covered. I've sacrificed. I've gone the extra mile. I've done everything I can possibly do. But others aren't doing their part. A failed project that needed to be a group effort. A relationship that became one-sided. A difficult person that is impossible to please or guide or nurture or convince. The skeptic. The betrayer. The fool. The lazy person. The one I am trying so hard not to be! But my efforts alone aren't enough. It takes two, or ten, or many more to make things work, and it's not happening.
The Apostle Paul talked about failure, and he had experienced it many times. Sometimes, by his own admission, he was the problem. He was weak. He was wrong. He was arrogant. He needed a good humbling, and God gave it to him. Other times he was the victim of others' lack of understanding, patience, love, and belief. Often in his letters he pleads with his readers to hear what he is saying. To repent of their wrong thinking and wrong actions. To remember the message they received from him at first. To wake up and smell the coffee! And sometimes he was downright irritated with them at their lack of belief and the behaviors they were engaged in.
Paul was honest. He didn't hide how he really felt, and he also didn't hide the fact that his ministry was a difficult one. He had times of joy and triumph and success. But he also had times of failure and great hardship. In his second letter to the Corinthian church, he writes these words: We do not want you to be uninformed about the hardships we suffered...We were under great pressure, far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired even of life. Indeed, in our hearts we felt the presence of death.
Failure can feel like that, can't it? It's as inevitable as death, and sometimes it feels like death. The life is sucked out of us to the point of utter despair, deep pain, and a lack of desire to keep going. To give up. To stop trying. To throw in the towel and say, 'I'm done.'
But Paul wasn't finished. He had more to say...Paul always had more to say...But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God who raises the dead. He has delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us. On him we have set our hope...
Paul had realized something. He had realized that failure was an option. Sometimes life and ministry and people and circumstances and his own weaknesses were too much for him to handle on his own. It was too much for his team. It was too much for the churches he was trying to lead and encourage. But that was okay because failure was not the final nail in their coffin. It was simply an opportunity to be rescued. To depend on God. To trust Him. To be saved once again by Jesus, the author and perfecter of their faith.
Salvation is not a one-time deal. It's more than an escape from death and punishment. Salvation is a daily occurrence for those who put their hope in Jesus. We will fail. Others will fail us. Life is hard, and sometimes, even when we're doing everything right, failure is beating down on our door, and there is no escape. Failure comes. Failure threatens to swallow us up in death. The despair is so great. All hope seems lost.
But it's not. Something else Paul says in his first letter to the Corinthians is this: Love never fails. I think sometimes God deliberately puts me in a situation where it is impossible to succeed. Why? To teach me that it's okay to fail. It's okay if I'm wrong. It's okay if I don't measure up. Jesus said, "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and lift up his cross daily and follow me." What did the cross symbolize? Death, failure, a burden too heavy to carry. That's why He says, 'Don't rely on yourself, don't carry that burden, lift it up...that's what it means to follow Me.' That's what freedom in God's love looks like. Without failure, or threats of failure, I can never experience the fullness of His grace.
And when others fail me, I can extend that same grace to them, and mercy will win. We were not created to be perfect apart from God's righteousness, and we can't expect that from anyone else either. Trying to be perfect is idolatry because I am worshipping myself, not His holy perfection. Part of His holy perfection is my weakness that He puts back together with grace, love, mercy, and compassion. I may fail, but His love will never fail me. And our love for one another (after we have first received His unconditional love) will bring hope, healing, restoration, and joy.
I wrote last week about the words of hope Jesus had for 'the 'poor in spirit'. I believe failure is something that can empty our hearts like nothing else. Whether it's our own failure, or how others have failed us, we will become poor in spirit, sometimes gradually, and sometimes overnight. Am I talking to anybody here?
If I may be so bold to extend Jesus' list of those who are blessed, I believe He would say...'Blessed are those who fail, for they will be called My beloved ones...and they will believe it.'
We do not want you to be uninformed about the hardships we suffered. We were under great pressure, far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired even of life. Indeed, in our hearts we felt the presence of death. But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God who raises the dead. He has delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us. On him we have set our hope...(2 Corinthians 1:8-10)
