By Chris WittsWednesday 8 Feb 2023Morning Devotions with Chris WittsFaithReading Time: 1 minute
Transcript:
Some of us feel like failures once in a while. Others feel like failures every single day of their lives. It must be a heavy weight to carry. “I always screw things up. I’d look for a job if I wasn’t going to get fired in the first two weeks or I’d like to go out to a party, but no one would look at me anyway. Or like me. No one wants to talk to me. And so why bother trying to succeed in anything now?” Does that sound familiar?
Some of us tend to see the negative side of everything. Not a very helpful recipe. Look at big business. Sometimes they turn failure around. Do you remember that Coke 2 was introduced to the public in 1984 and customers didn’t embrace this new taste. It was a failed invention. So Coca Cola immediately began selling its original formula again because they realised why change a good thing.
While some outsiders might view that as a failure, the company sought to embrace that and learn from it. So is it possible to bounce back. Other times when you feel “I’m a failure”, it would be good to say “I’m a perfectionist and I’m one of those people that set goals too high.” But actually, you’re setting yourself up for a bit of a problem. Some of us are too hard on ourselves.
We set impossible personal goals, and when we don’t reach the goal, we end up seeing ourselves as a failure.
There’s a big difference between experiencing a success and not experiencing a success – a failure. And I think there’s a distinction. Just because something doesn’t work out does not mean that you’ve failed. Even if someone else is accusing you of being a failure, you don’t have to take that as the last word. There’s always a way through, even if it looks pretty horrible.
in Jesus’ day, many saw him as a failure. Where was this great warrior, saviour who would come and destroy the Roman Empire and establish a kingdom? After all, didn’t he promise to do that in Matthew 13 in the New Testament? We read at the time that Jesus returns to his hometown to preach and to teach. Perhaps he thought it would be good to come home to his family and friends. But no, Matthew says the people were very unhappy because of what he was doing. That’s in Matthew 13, Verse 57. In their eyes, his friends, family – people had known him. They reckon he’d failed. Now I want to ask you, have you thought that failure might be a good thing?
That’s an unusual question. But listen, life can be a great teacher. Many failures can end up bringing me closer to God and to helping me transform my life. I could end up being a better person. Jesus Christ can bring you peace of mind in the middle of a failure because he loves you.
Think of on it. In this way, I may not be skilled in one area, but I am skilled in other things. And if I was to make a list of things that I’m not very good at, it would be a long list. But you know what? All of that’s quite okay, because God didn’t create all of us to be skilled in every single thing – that would be rather silly. And he invented us, created us rather to be skilled in a wide variety of interesting things. So the fact that I’m not skilled in some areas today doesn’t mean I’m a failure. It just means that I’ve never bothered to take the time and energy to learn those things. That the things that I can’t do or just I’m not talented to do, and I think the big lesson in life is that my success and failures do not define who I am.
Jesus said, “I no longer call you servants.” He said a servant doesn’t know his master. I have called you friends. We are the Children of God. We are friends of God in the love of God. We cannot fail. We can make mistakes. Yes, mistakes have already been covered, actually through the death of Jesus on the cross. And that kind of love helps us even in our mistakes. We understand even the biggest mistake can’t separate us from God’s love. And that’s what keeps us going, empowers us to overcome failure as a negative thing. Everything that God does is relational. He deals with people.
We are a work in progress. No one condemns the artist when he hasn’t finished his picture, and we look at it and God is the same. We know that God is still working in our lives, even if we don’t always understand what’s happening. So what I’m saying today, don’t let failure have the last word.
Let’s Pray
Well, Heavenly Father, it seems that time goes by so quickly. And I wonder if I’m wasting time. And sometimes I feel I’ve failed. But Lord help me to value the days and see it as a gift. And I’m not a failure. I know in Jesus’ name, amen.