DON’T BE AFRAID TO FAIL - GOD
IS FAITHFUL TO A HUMBLE HEART
I remember the day when I
discovered I was totally okay with my own failure. After three days of trying
to make a piece of Masonite look like a piece of maple, I’d run out of ideas.
I’d completed hundreds of wood samples that looked great, so I was shocked with
myself when I realized I just could not do this one. I had to admit failure,
and the result was surprisingly wonderful! In that moment, I was totally set
free. I did fail, and I was actually happy for myself. Odd, yes, and yet this
was a deliverance for me! I was very prideful growing up. Failure was never an
option. I was good at almost anything I tried, and I avoided activities I couldn’t
do well. No one really likes the idea of failing. But sometimes it can be a
good thing – a lifesaver, actually.
Though I’d accepted Jesus
as my Lord and confessed my sins, pride kept popping up in other categories.
It’s funny how God can use the most mundane things in our lives to show us the
most important spiritual things we will ever experience. This incident with the
wood sample was one of those things.
Many of you have
experienced similar awakenings. We go along in our regular life, no real “Las
Vegas” moments to speak of, no bells and whistles, just plodding along, and all
of a sudden we’re doing something we normally do, and God opens an amazing
realization about a very big thing in our lives that we never expected.
One thing I’ve learned
over the years is that if we are faithful to seek God and read His life manual,
the Bible, He is faithful to us, to reward us with revelations, insights, and
deliverances that we not only wanted but some we didn’t even know we wanted! A
preacher once said: “God can make taking out the garbage the most exciting
thing you’ve ever experienced.” I‘ve found this to be absolutely true.
The key on our part is to
be faithful to Him. Jesus tells us a parable in Matthew 25 about a man going to
a far country who gives his goods to his servants to take care of while he was
away.
“And
unto one he gave five talents, to another two, and to another one; to every man
according to his several [own] ability; and straightway took his journey. Then he
that had received the five talents went and traded with the same, and made them
other five talents.
“And
likewise he that had received two, he also gained other two. But he that had
received one went and digged in the earth, and hid his lord's money.
“After
a long time, the lord of those servants cometh, and reckoneth with them.
“And
so he that had received five talents came and brought other five talents,
saying, ‘Lord, thou deliveredst unto me five talents: behold, I have gained
beside them five talents more.’ His lord said unto him, ‘Well done, thou good
and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make
thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord.’
“He
also that had received two talents came and said, ‘Lord, thou deliveredst unto
me two talents: behold, I have gained two other talents beside them’. His lord
said unto him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant; thou hast been faithful
over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the
joy of thy lord.’
“Then
he which had received the one talent came and said, ‘Lord, I knew thee that
thou art an hard man, reaping where thou hast not sown, and gathering where
thou hast not strawed: And I was afraid, and went and hid thy talent in the
earth: lo, there thou hast that is thine.’
“His
lord answered and said unto him, ‘Thou wicked and slothful servant’” (Matt.
25:15-24).
The servant that received
one talent was afraid of failure. He didn’t even try, didn’t risk anything,
didn’t step out in faith to gain anything more. He buried what he had. He
reminds me of Christians who stop reading the Bible, stop praying, stop
exploring and questing after more of the Lord’s intimacy in their lives. They
bury their desire for Him or get snared by fear that it might not work, or they
may look foolish even trying.
In the above parable, the
two servants who were faithful to do more with what they had, were the ones who
were brave enough to step out. And look what the Lord told them: “Enter into
the joy of thy Lord.”
As Christians, we are
still human, and we are going to fail sometimes. But failure isn’t a crime. “As
it is written, ‘There is none righteous, no, not one’” (Rom. 3:10).
We were failures when we
came to Jesus the first time and admitted we weren’t very good at being our own
Lord. Don’t be afraid of being a failure at something. It’s worth a try.
We must pick ourselves up
when we fall and continue to seek the Lord’s guidance. Let’s be like David, who
said to God: “Unto thee lift I up mine eyes” (Ps. 123:1).
Humility is a sweet smell
to our God. And pride is a stinker. Shut it down by going back to the
scriptures with a humble heart for truth.
God is faithful to us.
“Know therefore that the Lord thy God, he is God, the faithful God, which
keepeth covenant and mercy with them that love him and keep his commandments to
a thousand generations” (Deut. 7:9).
In the New Testament, the
Lord promises: “He which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until
the day of Jesus Christ” (Phil. 1:6). And God keeps His promises.
Love, Carolyn
Other teachings and
true-life stories I’ve written to help you live the Bible way:
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