- Scripture:
Failure Is Needed
My grace is enough; it’s all you need.
My strength comes into its own in your weakness.
Once I heard that, I was glad to let it happen. I quit focusing on the handicap and began appreciating the gift. It was a case of Christ’s strength moving in on my weakness. Now, I take limitations in stride, and with good cheer, these limitations cut me down to size abuse, accidents, opposition, and bad breaks. I just let Christ take over! And so the weaker I get, the stronger I become.
2 Corinthians 12:9-10 MSG
- Reflection:
Failure refines us. We mature through failures because we learn from them much more than successes. Through failures, our character is formed (Romans 5:3-5). No man can become who he’s supposed to be without experiencing some failure. Failure also fuels us or, instead, the potential for failure. While we may not like failure, we like to face its potential. We like to be tested. It’s why we like competition. It’s why we want risk. The excitement of uncertain outcomes often drives us to learn from failures and improve, hoping to avoid more. However, the potential for failure must be accurate. And when it is confirmed, we will sometimes fail.
Where do we go from here?
The danger is getting stuck in the shame of failure's past, the fear of failure's future, or maybe both. When we do, failure defeats us: we live dull lives devoid of daring. But we need not get stuck. We can, instead, reject the shame of failure and learn to deal with it by acknowledging fault, confessing and repenting if sin was involved, facing any consequences, allowing God to teach us what we need to learn, and then moving on. Are there any risks that you have thought about taking but haven’t? Write them down, pray over them, and ask GOD about the next steps.
Our Prayer for Today
Father, we all fail, and fail again even though we are never going to enjoy it I believe that we all know at some point something isn’t going to go our way. Thank you for being there to manage that space between the gap between Failure and Prosperity. It is because of you that we all can have something to look forward too. Amen.