6.27.2012

Failure and Faithfulness


I had written a fairly lengthy post on the subject of failure and faithfulness, but then I deleted it because it didn’t accomplish my goal—I found it to be more discouraging than encouraging.

Here was the overall point of that post: I fail. A lot. With my family, in my personal life, and in my ministry—especially in my ministry (it was in my attempt to list some of those failures that the post quickly became discouraging!).

But while failures can be incredibly disappointing and can sometimes even paralyze us into inaction, ultimately, they aren’t that big of a deal.

I ran across a quotation a year or so ago that I really liked:
“God doesn’t call us to be successful; He calls us to be faithful.”
I don’t remember where I came across it originally, and a quick Google search didn’t reveal the author. Nevertheless, I think it’s a good message: over and over again in Scripture, God calls for faithfulness from His followers, but He doesn’t demand success.

For a Christian, husband, father, and minister who seems to spend a lot of his time failing, that’s a comforting thought—God cares more about my unrelenting, dogged pursuit of Him than my triumphs (or lack thereof) on earth.

I can live with that.

5 comments:

Justin and Heather Bland 6/27/12, 5:24 PM  

Whew, Luke - you hit the nail on the head. again.

This is a tough thought for me to wrap my mind around, but I am excited to try to teach David: we MUST fail to grow (physically, emotionally, spiritually). I hope my house will be one where failure is expected, a sign of trying something new, and a measure of effort. I do not want my son being afraid of failure... but the world will try to teach him to fear it. May the LORD deepen our faith and Bless us to accept failure and to look to HIM for security.

Thanks for your post, we all need to hear it.

Anonymous 6/27/12, 9:01 PM  

Luke,
Thanks for your honesty. It reminds me I'm not the only one. :) --Mark

Luke Dockery 6/28/12, 9:55 AM  

Hey Justin, good thoughts.

John Wooden, the great UCLA basketball coach, once said that “The team that makes the most mistakes usually wins.” What he meant was that the team that makes the most mistakes is the team that is willing to try things and take risks.

That goes along well with your point, I think.

Luke Dockery 6/28/12, 9:56 AM  

Mark,

Us failures have to stick together!

Jared Dockery 6/28/12, 11:00 AM  

Regarding your quote, Dr. Henry Farrar used to say something like that.

http://brotherhoodnews.com/2010/02/22/dr-henry-farrar-dies/

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