Getting Back Up After Failure

We've all made mistakes right?  I think we can all agree on that one.  As I've expressed before, I have a tendency to focus on mine - especially when I'm tired.  When I do [or say, as it more frequently is] something wrong and mess-up, it can be hard to bounce back.

There are times when it's tough to remember the wins, or see how truly small of a failure it is.  At those times, I am tempted to look at others, not in judgement, but envy - they are not struggling with the sense of failure I am at that moment, their life is SO much easier!

I'm great at throwing pity parties for myself.  One failure suddenly hosts an event where all past failures come out of the woodwork to join the fun.  I'm even great at predicting future failures!

And then it's over.  Sometimes by time healing, but more often by choice.  The wind blows the clouds away and I can see the sun again - or should I say Son!

When I read the devotional below I felt vindicated.  If even the disciples, the very BFF's of Jesus had times of fear, when they fled from the call to be Followers.  Maybe they blamed themselves for his death - they did nothing to save him!  

But when they opened their eyes to see him, still with them, not only resurrected, but not mad or angry with them, I'm sure they were able to stand up straight again, confident that they were still important to God.  Because it's not about us, this relationship with God.  No, it's about Him and when we focus on who He is, then our failures are diminished by His glory.

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Getting Back Up After Failure

by Rick Warren

"Even if good people fall seven times, they will get back up. But when trouble strikes the wicked, that's the end of them." 

(Proverbs 24:16 CEV)

Failure isn't fatal — it's normal! Just look around. All of us mess up from time to time. Somebody recently gave me a book, "The (Incomplete) Book of Failures: The Official Handbook of the Not-Terribly-Good Club of Great Britain." When they printed the book, they forgot to print the first two pages and had to add it later. Even the book was a failure! 

Unfortunately, we tend to hyper-focus on our own shortcomings, and that robs us of our confidence. That's part of what happened to the first disciples. Yesterday, I told you how amazed I was that the first disciples went from defeated to dynamic so quickly after the Resurrection. I shared with you the first of three roadblocks to confidence that the disciples illustrated: fatigue.

The second of these roadblocks is failure. Matthew 26:56 says, "All the disciples deserted him and fled" (NIV). One of the main reasons the confidence of the disciples was so shaken was their sense of failure for having deserted Jesus. Plus, the thriving movement they were a part of — the ministry of Jesus — was seemingly dead. They were having a pity party. They were second-guessing themselves and wondering what went wrong. Jesus was supposed to be the Messiah, but then he died. I'm sure they were asking, "Why me? Who cares? What now?"

What's the antidote to failure? It's perseverance. You overcome failure when you admit it to God and keep doing what God has called you to do regardless of setbacks. The Bible reminds us that God specializes in using failures. The fact is, just three days after Jesus was crucified and the disciples thought their lives were in the tank, Jesus rose from the dead. God specializes in lost causes.

The Bible says in Proverbs 24:16, "Even if good people fall seven times, they will get back up. But when trouble strikes the wicked, that's the end of them" (CEV).

Are you ready to get back up?

Talk About It

·         What is your usual reaction to failure?

·         How have you let your failures keep you from doing what God has called you to do?