Failure

— For the week of February 27, 2011 —

Failure is never final. Staying down is!

There is not a righteous man on earth
who does what is right and never sins.
— Ecclesiastes 7:20

Ted Williams was arguably one of the greatest hitters in the history of baseball. He was the last man to hit .400 and is now enshrined in the Baseball Hall of Fame. But Ted failed to get on base six out of every ten times he went to bat.

We often forget past successes and dwell on our past failures. We forget that failure is never final, and by doing so we allow failure to paralyze our ministry.

There are many things about our past that we would like to erase. Most of us, if it were possible, would change something in our personal histories. Would you like to take back a promise broken, a word spoken in anger, an action taken in haste, or a decision made unwisely?

Remember this: Failure is universal. James 3:2 reminds us that "we all stumble in many ways." Perhaps you are failing right now in some area of your life. But the key to getting past failure is to learn from it. Ask the Holy Spirit to show you where you went wrong and what was the root cause of your fall. Then work with Him to fix what needs to be fixed and go on.

It's also important to take a few moments and reflect on the fact that Jesus Christ loves you and believes in you despite your failures. See the exciting work He has for you. He has chosen you to spread His Word! And whenever you do stumble, He will pick you up, brush you off, and set you back on track — brighter and smarter than when you started!

 

Taken from The Minister's Little Devotional Book.
Copyright © 1997 by H.B. London Jr. and Stan Toler.
Used by permission of RiverOak Publishing, Tulsa, Okla.
All rights reserved.