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Weekly Devotions

When Failure is Good-March 24, 2021

Nobody likes to fail. But sometimes failing at something can lead to bigger and better things.

Monday Morning Devotion-March 24, 2021

When Failure is Good

Let us run with endurance the race God has set before us.  We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects our faith°Think of all the hostility He endured from sinful people; then you won't become weary and give up.    Hebrews 12:1-3

         Recognize any of these names?  Abraham Lincoln; Thomas Edison;  Babe Ruth; Michael

Jordan; Mickey Mantle.  Sure, you do.  They are famous failures!  Say what?  These are some of the most famous names in history.  Why are you calling them failures?  Because they were in some sense of the word.

            Talk about failing.  Abraham Lincoln lost almost every political race he ran in except when he ran for President of the United States.  He won that one.

            Thomas Edison went through thousands of experiments before he invented the light bulb.

            Babe Ruth, known as the Home Run King, played in the Major Leagues for 22 years during which he struck out almost twice as many times (1,330) as the number of home runs he hit (714). 

            Mickey Mantle, a Hall of Fame baseball player recalled;  "During my 18 years I came to bat almost 10,000 times.  I struck out about 1,700 times and walked maybe 1,800 times.  You figure a ballplayer will average about 500 times at bat a season.  That means I played seven years in the Major Leagues without ever hitting the ball." (In The Big Inning God Created Baseball, by Jim Crosby)

            Michael Jordan, one of basketball's all-time greats,  talking about being a risk taker said: "I've missed more than 9,000 shots in my career.  I've lost almost 300 games.  Twenty-six times I've been trusted to take the game-winning shot and missed.  I've failed over and over and over again in my life and that is why I succeed." (Uncommon Life, by Tony Dungy)

            Wow! Talk about a bunch of failures.  It's a wonder those guys didn't give up.  But the point is they didn't and that's why they wrote some of the greatest success stories in history.

Failure breeds success.

            But nobody sets out to fail in what they undertake to do.  And we shouldn't.  We can only have success in life if we strive to do our best in the things we undertake to do.  The key thing to remember is not to be defeated when we fail at something.

            Tony Dungy writes:  "Get over it.  Get up and try it again."  This advice doesn't age.  No matter what your age or skill level is.  As we tell our granddaughter Ellee°"Ellee can do it."

You can do it, too.

            A song I really like  that applies here comes from one of my all-time favorite movies; "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid."  The song is "Raindrops Keep Fallin' on My Head."    B. J. Thomas sings:

            Those raindrops are falling on my head,°.they keep fallin'

                       But there's one thing I know

                     The blues they send to meet me

                      Won't defeat me

                      It won't be long 'till happiness steps up to greet me.

 

           Raindrops keep falling on my head but

                      that doesn't mean my eyes will soon be turning red

                       Crying's not for me, 'cause

                    I'm never gonna stop the rain by complaining

           Because I'm free

                   Nothing's worrying me

            I like those sentiments.  Complaining about what went wrong, whose fault it was, why

you should have done it this way, and on and on.  We can commiserate ad infinitum about what happened but that won't change the fact that it did happen.  The only way to change it is to: "Get over it.  Get up and try it again."

            Jesus could be looked upon as the ultimate failure.  He miraculously healed many.

He had it all going for Him.  People were following Him everywhere straining to catch every word and hear all that He had to say.  He spoke in parables to challenge their thinking.  He stirred up their hopes that He was the long-awaited Messiah.  The One sent to rescue His people from their oppression.

            And then He blew it.  He refused to flee from His enemies and save his own life as the people believed the Messiah could do.  He failed all those who had put their faith in Him.  Or did He?

            What if he had fled from his enemies?  What if He had avoided that cruel, inhumane death on the cross?  Where would we be?  Where would our hope of salvation be?

            Jesus' failure turned into the greatest success story in all mankind.  Three days later He

got over it.  He got up and tried again.  And because He did, we have one of the all-time greatest success stories to guide us. One we can always call on when we feel discouraged, defeated and like a loser.

            Through Jesus' failure to save himself He saved us.  Now we have that story to remember when we experience failure in our lives, and we are able to "get over it. Get up and try it again."

Prayer: Thank you Lord for always being there to turn our failures into victories.  Amen!

 

 

           

 

           

 

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