When normal failure just doesn’t cut it! EPICFAIL
Mar 31, 2016
When normal failure just doesn’t cut it! EPICFAIL
CONTROLLING THE PEST OF
FAILURE
Failure is an event, not a destiny.
(Ray Pritchard)
Failure is always inevitable
Basically, all of us, whether insiders or outsiders, start out in identical conditions, which is to say that we all start out as sinners. Scripture leaves
no doubt about it:
There’s nobody living right, not even one, nobody who
knows the score, nobody alert for God. They’ve all taken the
wrong turn; they’ve all wandered down blind alleys.
No one’s living right; I can’t find a single one . . . And it’s
clear enough, isn’t it, that we’re sinners, every one of us, in the same sinking boat with
everybody else? (Romans 3: 9-11, 23 – The Message)
Failure is completely forgivable
God makes everything come out right; he puts victims back on their feet . . . God is sheer mercy and grace; not easily angered, he's rich in love.
He doesn't endlessly nag and scold, nor hold grudges forever. He doesn't treat us
as our failures deserve, nor pay us back in full
for our wrongs.
As high as heaven is over the earth, so strong is his love to those who fear him. And as far as sunrise is from sunset,
he has separated us from our sins.
every one
As parents feel for their children, God feels for those who fear him. He knows us
inside and out, keeps in mind that we're made of mud.
(Psalm 103:6, 8-14)
every one
He canceled the record of the charges against us
and took it away by nailing it to the cross. (Colossians 2:14 - NLT)
every one
Failure is extremely beneficial
I don’t mean to say that I have already achieved these things or that I have already reached
perfection. But I press on to possess that perfection for
which Christ Jesus first possessed me.
No, dear brothers and sisters, I have not achieved it, but I
focus on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what
lies ahead,
I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the
heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus,
is calling us. (Philippians 3:12-14 – New Living Translation)
This man’s “failure” created
one of the world’s most famous office
products!
Failure is never final
Good people might fall again and again, but they always
get up. (Proverbs 24:16 – Easy To Read Version)
Peter said, “Master, I’m ready for anything with you. I’d go
to jail for you. I’d die for you!” Jesus said, “I’m sorry to have
to tell you this, Peter,
but before the rooster crows you will have three times
denied that you know me.” . . . One of the serving
maids sitting at the fire noticed him, then took a second look and said,
“This man was with him!” He denied it, “Woman, I don’t even know him.” A short time later, someone else noticed him and said, “You’re one
of them.”
But Peter denied it: “Man, I am not.” About an hour later, someone else spoke up, really
adamant: “He’s got to have been with him! He’s got
‘Galilean’ written all over him.”
Peter said, “Man, I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
At that very moment, the last word hardly off his lips,
a rooster crowed. Just then, the Master turned and looked
at Peter.
Peter remembered what the Master had said to him:
“Before the rooster crows, you will deny me three times.”
He went out and cried and cried and cried.
(Luke 22:33-34, 56-62 – The Message)
Behind this story lies a wonderful, liberating,
hope-filled truth: Failure is an event, not a destiny.
This is good news because we all fail sooner or later,
and if we are honest, we all fail over and
over again.
As Peter’s story abundantly proves, it’s not our initial failure
that ruins us. It’s what happens next that
matters.
Failure doesn’t mean you have blown everything. It
means you have some hard lessons to learn. It doesn’t mean you are a
permanent loser.
It means you aren’t as smart as you thought you were. It doesn’t mean you should give up. It means
you need the Lord to show you the next step.
It doesn’t mean that God has abandoned you.
It means that God has a better plan.
(Ray Pritchard)