Succeeding through failure

Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Philippians 3: 12

Have you ever watched a baby when they are learning to walk? Their first attempts are always unsuccessful. They may take one step which the proud parents are thrilled about but immediately they fall and land usually on their bottom.

Undeterred they get up and have another go. They may need help to get to their feet but they don’t give up. Gradually they take more steps until they can walk across the room. Then they start to run. At this point they probably will fall but not onto the safety of a well padded bottom but flat on their face. It hurts and they will need comfort before being put back on their feet to try again.

The most important thing though is that they do try again. Suppose the first time a baby fell, they never got up again! They just sat there, prepared to stay there forever. The world would be full of helpless babies, unable to walk and certainly unable to run.

Unfortunately too often this is exactly what happens to Christians. They step out in faith to help others, to pray for the sick, to witness, to prophesy and maybe they do not succeed. Their efforts are rebuffed and so they sit down and don’t try that again.

Worse comes when having succeeded in walking in some of the ways of God, they try to run into fresh levels of faith and fall. Their pride may be dented, relationships may be hurt and they may be embarrassed but the worse thing is to give up and not try again.

Steve Backlund says:  Many subconsciously believe that success is not failing at anything, but the truth is that those who succeed most will also seem to fail the most. Any time we choose to leave our safety and comfort, and determine to “walk” at a higher level in Christ, we will most likely fall down many times. Those who are the most successful in life will attempt to do multiple things (with its inherent risks), and ultimately will have a greater list of “failures” for those staying in safety to criticize. (Ouch!)

There have been times when I have given a prophetic word and it has just been ignored. I know it was from God and would have blessed both the person and the church. It is easy in circumstances like that to give up.

Failure is part of the Christian life and it is there to help us learn to persevere, trust God and grow in our faith.  It helps develop our character and deal with pride and offense.

Let’s put off our past failures, rise up and try again; let’s not give up but persevere to success. Jesus is urging us on so we may finish our race strong in him.