What the Bible says about Failure and You

September 19, 2009
For the Journal-Review

When the Crawfordsville High School football team lost its fifth-straight game on a beautiful Homecoming night, my heart ached for those young men. It seemed this might be the night the Athenians would make that extra play, make that extra tackle, swat that ball away one more time to help secure a victory. You could feel the frustration on the sidelines among both the coaches and players. It is tough to lose when you know you were so close to making the right plays.

I have a lot of experience in losing. I have been a Cubs fan for the past 25 years, giving up on my childhood team the Dodgers for no good logical reason. This season, the Cubs simply ran out of steam in August, squandering a slight lead and disappearing from the standings. A playoff run will not happen this year. The team with the longest record of never winning a World Series fails yet again.

What is it about sports fans, like me, who actually feel the loss of their favorite team when we have absolutely no bearing on the result? I remember the wonderful run the Indianapolis Colts made in reaching and winning the Super Bowl in 2006. I was living in Logansport and a group of us got together most every week to watch the games.

The homeowner where we gathered had a tradition of flying the Colts flag at each game. During one game, the Colts started out sluggish. Something was amiss. It seemed the team was not hitting on all cylinders. Then, someone notice there was no flag! Immediately, Jim got out of his chair, went outside, and hoisted the Colts flag in a hurry. Now, with that deed done, we returned to the action and the Colts rallied and won the game.

I remember thinking in 2006 that I was privileged to witness one of my teams winning a championship. At the time, I said this was such an exciting year that it wouldn’t matter to me if the Colts never won another Super Bowl. Of course, that is now a distant memory. I can’t stand those Patriots, so this has got to be our year.

They say “everyone loves a winner,” but the hard reality of life is that not everyone wins. Before Payton Manning helped his team win a Super Bowl, the big story about the Colts is how close they would get before someone would beat them. The only remaining item Manning needed in his storybook career was a victory in the championship game. So many regular season games seemed unimportant. I’ll never forget his reply: “You have to enjoy the journey. We are talking about guys’ careers.”

You see, there is a difference between failing and being a failure. Peyton Manning was never a failure before he led his team to a Super Bowl win. Yes, he and the team failed to win. But they were never a failure.

And when I looked out on that field the other night, I saw a young Athenian team failing to execute at times. But I didn’t see a team full of failures.

This is an important message in life – you have got to enjoy the journey. Whether or not your dreams come true, enjoy the journey. This is what life is about. Learning from our mistakes; trying to show improvement next time.

Of course, sports are just a reflection about the real needs in our world and in our lives. Our changing economy has made many people feeling like a failure. Losing your job is, without a doubt, one of the most stressful experiences in life. Losing a job you have had for many years is extremely difficult.

Sometimes, it is due to some sort of artificial circumstance beyond our control. My wife has worked as an administrative assistant for 15 years in our denominational headquarters. Her position ends on Dec. 31 and she has had to re-apply for a similar position. We have no guarantee she will even be called in for an interview.

The Bible is full of people who, from the world’s perspective, were failures. Probably the most influential human in the world next to Jesus Christ was the Apostle Paul. Paul was never one of the original 12 disciples. His special mission was to the Gentiles. Yet, his journey was not something we would want to experience.

Take a look with me how Paul could have seen himself as a failure. He admitted “I am the chief of all sinners….” (1 Timothy 1:15); “Five times I received … 39 lashes, three times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned, three times I was shipwrecked … I have been in dangers from rivers ….robbers …my countrymen…Gentiles…in the city…in the wilderness…on the sea…among false brethren…” (2 Corinthians 11:24-30) Three times he prayed for God to remove his “thorn in the flesh.” God chose not to. (2 Corinthians 12:7-10)

You know, if I were Paul’s friend, I think I would have told him to simply stay home. In fact, I would have told him to not even get out of bed. It is too risky. Thankfully, Paul didn’t follow such advice. He carried on.

This is how he described our life as it relates to God’s gift of grace through Jesus Christ. “But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body.” (2 Corinthians 4:7-10)

The reason we can endure the setbacks and failures along our journey in life is because God’s love is made perfect in our weakness. Paul knew that the worse he looked, the better God looked. He refused to believe that failures were final. He could enjoy the journey without knowing all the answers.

In fact, he states we are often “perplexed, but not in despair.” In other words, we don’t have to give into the pressure caused by our failures. Because of Christ, the stuff that happens to us on the outside does not have to change us on the inside.

A long time ago, I had a goal of becoming a reporter for the Journal-Review. I had just completed my degree in journalism from Franklin College. I wanted to work for my hometown newspaper in order to be closer to my mother. I got an interview, but I didn’t get the job offer. In fact, five opportunities in the surrounding area fell through all at once.

I was deeply hurt. I felt like a failure.

Well, guess what? I have returned to my hometown in a different capacity I could never had imagined 27 years ago. And I’m writing an article for the newspaper that had once rejected me. Perhaps, this is an example of God love’s being made perfect in my weakness. God loves you, dear reader. Don’t give up. You are never a failure in God’s eyes. This is the reality that matters the most.