“If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again.” I’m not sure where or when I first heard that expression, but I know I was very young.
But what is the difference between success and failure? Isn’t failure merely a step on the road toward doing things better the next time?
A baby does not run a marathon immediately after exiting the womb. She falls down many times while learning to walk and later, to run.
An entrepreneur does not create a successful business without making a few rookie mistakes along the way.
Life is filled with failures. We are not going to do everything perfectly.
And these failures can feel like thorns that we wish could be removed. We focus on the negative aspects of those failures instead of recognizing the value they bring to our growth in our walk with God.
I am not talking about failure in the sense of continuous sin that we should repent from and allow God’s transformation to remove from our lives.
Rather, failure is a mistake along the way. We were walking in the light, but we tripped up or stumbled. Our best effort wasn’t quite good enough. We would’ve done it better if...
Yet, the thorns of failure can be a blessing. Just as thorns protect the rose and a part of its growth process, our blessed thorns of failure can protect us from pride and other sins that entice us.
I invite you to consider four blessings from the thorns of failure:
1. Failure makes us compassionate.
Guess what? No one else gets it all right either! We all have different gifts, talents, interests, and passions. It is okay to not be good at everything. We value other people’s contributions when we recognize their strengths and our weaknesses. We more easily forgive when we realize all we have been forgiven (Matt. 18).
2. Failure helps us learn.
Alfred asked master Bruce, also known as Batman, “Why do we fall?” The answer: “So that we can learn to get up again.”
Onesimus experienced this when Paul recommended him to his former owners after having been useless to them previously (Philemon). Onesimus had learned from his mistakes and grew, as a person, a servant, and a Christian.
3. Failure is only one chapter in the book of life.
“One should not judge the book of someone’s life by the chapter just walked into.”
God is a God of forgiveness and redemption. He does not treat us as our sins deserve. And He does not look at us through the lens of our failures, but rather through the redeeming blood of His Son. Our identity is not that of sinners, but as redeemed children of the Father. Yes, Peter betrayed Jesus, but that was not what defined him, because...
4. God is bigger than any failure.
The book of Genesis (or really the entire Bible) can aptly be subtitled “God specializes in working through failures.” He is best glorified through our shortcomings, our inabilities, and our missteps. He longs for us to ask for help in our weakness, for then it is His strength we rely on (2 Cor. 12:9).
Today, as we close out the month looking at our #walkwithGod, I encourage you to take a moment to thank Him for the blessed thorns of failure. And also, to take time to share in the Common Threads with a Christian sister, an Iron Rose Sister. Even if the failure you wish to remove is a sin, don’t let it define you. God is the God of second chances... Just ask Paul.