I once read that Thomas Edison failed hundreds of times before he successfully invented the light bulb. He commented that without the failures he would not have learned what he needed in order to pull-off the invention.
The founder of the Honda Corporation once said that he expected his engineers to fail 99 percent of the time. He knew this would lead to a brilliant and profitable success in his company.
When is the last time you failed? Or, something you were working on completely
flopped? How did this go for you? Perhaps it ended in utter frustration. Or,
maybe it ended in laughter - you laughed how terrible to turned out.
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As followers of Christ we experience failure as part of our human condition. We take on projects, set goals, pursue spiritual practices, and discipleship growth knowing that it might goal very well or we may fall flat and end up making unfaithful or hurtful decisions along the way.
In the Bible one of Job’s friends tries to tell him that God sent him all of his suffering to make him a better person. I don’t believe that God sets us up for failure on purpose. I do believe that Jesus is present with us in very powerful ways when we fail and when we succeed.
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To the world, Jesus appeared to be a failure on the cross. He was humiliated, suffered, and died. To us and to God his Father, Jesus was faithful and gave life through his death on the cross and resurrection.
May our Lord be with you in all your successes, and, yes, in
all your failures.
Joy in the Journey,
Pastor Durk K. Peterson
