Oh no! I messed Up!
I think we can all agree it is no fun to fail. Surely we can also agree we’ve all done it. Most of us have hopefully learned and grown from failure. Will implores us to lean in to our gracious God when failure comes.
“For though the righteous fall seven times, they rise again, but the wicked stumble when calamity strikes.” Proverbs 24:16
Everywhere I look, I see or hear about the next “how to succeed” book. Why? I think a big part of it is that we see failure as one of the worst things that can happen to us. Therefore, failure can paralyzes us or cause us to want to play the game of “cover up”. Sometimes we go as far as believing we are failures when we have failed. Not so! Thankfully we can be encouraged by heroes in the Bible and history who failed – usually in huge ways. Check out this short clip on some big-time failures by people who are NOT failures themselves.
What should we do when we or our kids don’t have what it takes and we fail?
- The fear of failure should not paralyze us. The Lord calls us to some big things – things we think or know we cannot do on our own. He wants us to rely on Him…fully depending on Him to help us accomplish what He asks. Moses had a speech problem, and God asked him to be the leader for the enslaved Israelites. David was a shepherd without army training when he faced Goliath in battle. Fear of failure should not stop us from trying. Instead, we should remember we have strength to do all things through Christ (Philippians 4:13).
- When we fail, we can admit it and grow from it. It’s not if we fail, but when we fail. As unpleasant as it may be to think about…failure is inevitable. We can look at it and learn something from it, but then we should put it behind us and go forward. Philippians 3:13-14 says, “Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.”
- Don’t be afraid to ask for help. We can ask for help not just from the Lord, but also from the people around us. We can’t let pride get the best of us…we don’t need to “handle” everything on our own. God gives us family and friends for the purposes of picking us up when we’ve failed, and helping us handle hard times. Pride can be a tough sin to overcome, but asking for help is a great way to start the process.
We all fail! Hopefully, we don’t let failure stop us and we are able to learn from it. God doesn’t give up and throw His hands in the air when we don’t “have it all together”. We shouldn’t either! Let’s follow His example and press on toward the goal!
Camper Corner
The greatest basketball player of all time, Michael Jordan, was cut from his high school basketball team. That didn’t stop him from continuing to try! Where have you failed or not gotten it right? Now, how will you move forward knowing what you know from it?
