We pray to God… that you may do what is right, though we may seem to have failed. 2 Corinthians 13:7.

‘We regret we are unable to give you the weather. We rely on weather reports from the airport, which is closed because of the weather. Whether we are able to give you the weather tomorrow depends on the weather.’ That, says Stephen Pile in The Book of Heroic Failures (Macmillan, 1979) is an accurate transcript of a news bulletin in a Middle Eastern country. Pile’s book is a salute to spectacular human failure. ‘Success’, he writes, ‘is overrated. Everyone craves it despite daily proof that humans’ true genius lies in quite the opposite direction. Incompetence is what we are good at…’

Failure is inevitable in our broken world. While we should not seek failure or despise success, a Christian is called to be faithful, not necessarily successful. Jesus was tempted to be a ‘successful’ Messiah, but chose rather to be a faithful and obedient servant. Those who cheered him on Palm Sunday had to learn he was not on his way to a throne in Jerusalem, but to a cross on Golgotha. (But the cross was the greatest victory in human history.)

In the sunshine and in the shadows, through the calm and the stormy days, when life is good and when it’s hard, when things go well and when they fall apart, may I know deep within my spirit that God is still smiling, and all will be well. Amen.

FALLING ISN’T FAILING

My brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of any kind, consider it nothing but joy, because you know that the testing of your faith produces endurance; and let endurance have its full effect, so that you may be mature and complete, lacking in nothing. James 1:2-4.

Jesus promised his followers three things: constant trouble and constant joy (because of his constant presence). We moderns have been seduced into thinking that, properly-organized, life can be trouble-free. Psychotherapist M. Scott Peck (The Road Less Travelled) says our society doesn’t believe life should be difficult, or that solving problems gives life meaning. Neurosis, Carl Jung used to say, is always a substitute for legitimate suffering.

I don’t know who said ‘It’s not whether you win or lose, but how you play the game’, but I reckon most modern sporting clubs wouldn’t want that fellow in their team. We love winners. Remember Jack Dempsey, the ‘Manassa Mauler’? He was the world heavyweight boxing champion, and he came up with the best definition of a champion I have heard: ‘A champion is a guy who gets up when he can’t’. Falling isn’t failing, but staying down is… We are as good as our next performance, not our last one.

So, Lord, just as you did not cast away your people who failed in the past, but forgave them, restored them, and recommissioned them, so I, now, too, accept your grace. Remind me anew that while failure is always possible, failure is not final. Thank you Lord, Amen.

UNLESS YOU HAVE FAILED YOU WILL NEVER SUCCEED

So let us not grow weary in doing what is right, for we will reap at harvest-time, if we do not give up. Galatians 6:9.

In their analysis of the American ethos Robert Bellah and his colleagues wrote, ‘The American dream is often a very private dream of being the star, the uniquely successful and admirable one, the one who stands out from the crowd of ordinary folks.’ Jesus didn’t buy into such a dubious notion, and doesn’t invite us to either.

You see, success and/or failure may produce spiritual health – or they may not. As Kipling said, they’re both imposters. Indeed, in reality what is perceived as failure is often success, and vice-versa. Our world is like a shop after young people on Haloween night got in and changed all the price-tags around. The price and value of winning or losing don’t necessarily relate.

Winning isn’t everything; we also need the faith to face failure. ‘When I am weak, then I am strong’, Paul wrote. ‘I can do all things (even fail!) through Christ who strengthens me.’ Sometimes we give the impression we’ve ‘got it all together’; or ‘victorious Christian life’ preachers leave us struggling in confusion and despair. The old hymn which says ‘Standing on the promises I cannot fail’ is dubious theology at best.

Unless I have failed, I will never succeed. What looks like failure in a success-mad world may prove to be successful in the longer run. So forgive me, Lord, if ever I say ‘I am a failure’ rather than ‘I have failed’. Amen.

# Robert N. Bellah, et. al., Habits of the Heart: Individualism and Commitment in American Life (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1985), p. 285].

EFFECTIVENESS IS A BETTER IDEA

I sought the Lord and he answered me, and delivered me from all my fears. Psalm 34:4.

Here are some bits of anonymous wisdom from my files about success and failure: ‘You may not be what you think you are, but what you think, you are!’ (Sports stars talk about ‘imaging’). ‘I don’t know the secret of success, but I do know the secret of failure – try to please everybody’. ‘Success is not permanent. The same is also true of failure’. ‘The biggest reward for a thing well done is to have done it’. ‘Mistakes are to life what shadows are to light’.

The vision of the church in James, Peter and the Revelation is of a suffering, patient, scattered people who are encouraged to face the hostility of the world without losing hope. In the church of the crucified Lord, one’s esteem should not be a function of ‘better’ or ‘smarter’ or ‘bigger’. ‘Effectiveness’ – the appropriate embodiment of faithfulness in given human contexts – is a better idea.

Lord, remind me continually that the only valid comparison is not between me and others, but between my actual and potential: I should strive to do my best, not someone else’s best. Amen.

NEVER GIVE UP!

Christ… emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness. And being found in human form, he humbled himself… Therefore God has highly exalted him. Philippians 2:7-9.

How can we sort out our motives and learn to make weakness a source of creativity?

First, ask honestly in your prayer,’What is my desire? What do I think I need in addition to the Lord to be “fulfilled”? Why do I need those things?’ Then, having written down the answers to these questions, talk them over with a trusted friend or spiritual director.

When things don’t work out the way you had hoped, don’t berate yourself (‘I’m a failure’). Rather analyse the situation, and believe it is possible to try your best and still have some factors beyond your control. Don’t blame others (particularly parents or spouse) for failure: be mature enough to take responsibility for yourself. Don’t nurture resentment or be too cynical: they are prime causes of stress, according to the experts. Above all, as Winston Churchill told a boys’ school assembly, ‘Never, ever, ever, ever give up!’

Didn’t Edison experience 14,000 ‘failures’ before he perfected the first light bulb?

So, Lord, I need reminding today that most of your great people in the Bible failed, but came back stronger and more useful afterwards: Abraham, Jacob, Moses, David, Elijah, Jonah, Peter, John Mark, Paul… Probably that’s because their egos got in the way too, and the process of risking and failing and being humbled is needed before we can be of much use to you or others. Amen

FAILURE NEED NEVER BE FINAL

When Judas, his betrayer, saw that Jesus was condemned, he repented and brought back the thirty pieces of silver… [and] departed; and he went and hanged himself. Matthew 27:3-5.

Here is a paragraph about failure from Clovis Chappell (If I Were Young):

After the miracles in Galilee there comes the solitude of the cross. After the proof of God by success, there comes the proof of God in failure; a paradoxical proof, but how much greater, in fact, and more absolute, despite its apparently relative character.

No failure need ever be final. No fall need end in tragedy. The only disaster that is without remedy is to quit trying. The difference between the one who has gone down in defeat and the other who has triumphed is not that one sometimes failed while the other never did. The real difference is that one accepted failure as final, [believed] there was no hope, while the other dared to start again. Simon Peter’s life might have ended as tragically as that of Judas had he not dared to start anew. The life of Judas might have ended triumphantly. Indeed, he might have been the most amazing miracle of the New Testament had he only dared to make a new start. The most painful wound this traitor inflicted upon his Lord was not his kiss of betrayal but his failure to trust him enough to make a new start.

Lord Jesus Christ, continually remind me that the good news you preached is still good news: failure need never be final. Amen.

Related Articles:

• Lovers Of Pleasure More Than Lovers Of God
• My God Turns My Darkness Into Light
• God Will Redeem My Life From The Grave
• Blessed Are Those Whose Strength Is In You
• My Times Are In Your Hands

This work, unless otherwise expressly stated, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.5 Australia License.