Failure and Looking Forward
- Mar 25
- 3 min read
The hard part about failure is when you feel like a failure, it usually affects the way you live your life. According to a Government Survey, approximately 31% of Americans report a fear of failure … ranking it as a top intangible fear. I suppose it’s because our society holds success at such a high level of accomplishment, that 1/3 of us feel like we will never achieve it. Let me tell you about how God uses failure to help people see a different conclusion to their lives. I wrote a Facebook post on this very subject.
The story of two men who failed, are well known and in the Bible. Peter, who failed by denying Christ three times, and John Mark, who deserted Paul while on a missionary trip. Yet, they came together … one as a denier and the other a deserter, to collaborate on writing the Gospel of Mark. So many of the Bibles great stories about people were those who failed. David and Moses were murderers, Solomon turned away from God, and Paul persecuted the Church. When Jesus was arrested, His disciples ran away, hoping not to be arrested with Him. In time, they all made a difference in turning their world upside down, by proclaiming Jesus as the Savior of the world. Failure does teach us to look to God and trust Him for greater things to come. ~Larry Kutzler, Facebook Post
As we read through the Bible, we see all kinds of people who have failed. Those who recovered from failure were those who did not let failure define who they are. or the potential they had. Jesus wasn’t famous or successful in the first 30 years of His life … it was only the last 3 years of His life where He was known for the miracles and healings that He performed. What did Jesus do for those 30 years while He was waiting? He lived His life, waiting to reach the ripe age of 30 before He would be allowed to teach as a Rabbi. Life has its waiting periods, and much of the time, we experience failures. I would suspect that most of us probably fail more than we succeed, I know I do. I never compiled the number of times I have failed, but I am sure it out numbers my successes.
Today
I am fine with failing … it doesn’t affect me as it once did (I still don’t like it.) The difference for me now is that I don’t see myself as a failure. I see failure as a lesson plan that is in the journey to success. In fact, God saw how humans failed, not just in terms of success, but in terms of being righteous. That was the whole reason Jesus arrived on earth. He knew how to make us righteous, and put a different spin on living without the condemnation of the failure of sin. When we review all the outstanding characters in the Bible, we quickly see they were not being defined as failures … they were people who looked beyond their failure to trust God to use that failure to do incredible things for Him. We are no different … with God all things are possible including change, even when we feel like a failure.
Challenging the Culture with Truth … Larry Kutzler