Failure Is Not An Option

So as I expected, vacation week was busy, although relaxing as well. This Sunday was my wife’s first Mother’s Day which was really great, and it was also baby dedication day for Bryleigh at church. It was a special day for us and our family as we affirmed our dedication of Bryleigh to God, but it was also great to have most of our family together in church, which has not happened since our wedding. We feel that some of them may not yet know Christ as their personal savior, so this was a great opportunity to get them in a place where they would hear the word of God. We have no idea if anything was stirred in their hearts, but hopefully at least a seed may have been planted.

The sermon this week was a continuation of the phobia series we are going through, and this week focused on the fear of failure. It usually takes a day or two for me to process what I have heard, and this week was no exception. My takeaway this week was that even though we all have the fear of failure at some point or another, we often sell ourselves short, and even more often sell the power of God short on what he can accomplish through us. As a young kid I grew up in a Pentecostal church where you felt like you had to be perfect and you were constantly re-dedicating your life so you would be sinless if Christ returned. When we moved to Florida we attended a Southern Baptist church, where we learned that grace covered our past and future sins because we could never be perfect. These are two totally different sides of the issue, and as an adult I have tended to agree with the latter because anything less than grace alone diminishes the sacrifice that Christ paid for our sins. But one statement stood out in the sermon this week, and that was that we cannot be perfect, but we can do better than we think. I feel that as Christians we sometimes stop trying because we feel that we cannot be good enough, so we just count on God’s grace alone. It is true that we are saved by grace alone and not by works, but God also desires for us to do great things for him and not just sit back and coast on his grace. I have been guilty of that myself so many times in life, but I really want to be the person who just puts it all out there and goes for it when I know it is the right thing to do. What is the worst that could happen? I could embarras myself or fail miserably? Can you name one great person who does not have failures in their life that they built on to become who or what they eventually became? Abraham Lincoln, Winston Churchill, the Apostle Paul, and many others, all had many failures before they became the great men we read about today.

But on a personal level, whether it is a fear of failure, lack of self confidence, or just laziness, there are times when I take myself out of the game or never get in the game to begin with. My goal is going to be to just give what I can and let God do the rest. I think it is a lot about your own perception of what success or failure is. Many famous people who most would consider successful have taken their lives probably feeling a sense of worthlessness and failure, while others who have been told that they would never amount to anything have gone on to be very successful in life. As long as you have faith in yourself and follow in God’s will for your life, then failure is not an option no matter who says anything to the contrary.