Some of you had a little fun with me yesterday, most probably missed the gaff. A marathon run is not 23 miles as I wrote. Since 1924, the length of the run has been fixed at 42195 meters, or 26.22 miles! OK? I told you I wasn't an athlete! A little nagging voice in my head said, "do a fact check before you sent out that TFTD." I didn't. Chalk it up to too much confidence in recall, or whatever. I was mistaken. As each email arrived to tell me of my error, I laughed a little more, wondering how many others caught me but didn't write. What's that line, "to err is human, to forgive is divine?"
Mistakes, failure, and sin creeps into our lives through many doors.
Perhaps we're just over-confident. "It could never happen to me! I'm better than that." are thoughts that are the prelude to disaster. God's wisdom reminds each one of us of the importance of humility: "You could fall flat on your face as easily as anyone else. Forget about self-confidence; it’s useless. Cultivate God-confidence." 1 Corinthians 10:12 (The Message) Maturity does not show itself in brags and boasts. It is revealed in the realization that each of us is just one slip from disaster. So we pray, with ever greater sincerity, "deliver us from the evil one." Matthew 6:13 (NIV)
Perhaps we're compromising our once high standards. When things go well for a spell, we tend to relax our guard, don't we? There is nothing like success to create complacency in us. Like Samson of old, as we experience victory upon victory, we are tempted to stop doing the things that brought us to those successes in the first place. He defeated the enemies of Israel and then started to flirt with one of the beautiful women from the Philistine nation. Delilah's fingers ran through his hair and she made the mighty man forget himself. When she had led him to compromise his promises to God, she called in her compatriots. When Samson sensed the danger, he sprang to his feet thinking he would fight them off. What follows is one of the tragic lines in the Bible - "I will go out as at other times before, and shake myself. And he wist not that the LORD was departed from him." Judges 16:20 (KJV) He compromised, broke his intimate ties to the Spirit of God from whom he got his amazing abilities, and became the slave of those he had once vanquished in battle.
Perhaps we're under attack. Ah, I like that one because it relieves me of responsibility! I know now why I got the marathon length wrong. The Devil made me do it. Seriously, we need to take note of the fact that there is a real conspiracy against God and good, coordinated by the mastermind of evil. I believe in a real Devil who organizes the spiritual forces of darkness against God's work, God's people, and this creation which is the handwork of God. The Bible tells us that he is real, militant, and seeking our destruction. He adopts whatever tactics necessary. In one Bible passage he is said to go about as a 'roaring lion seeking who he may devour.' In another he is said to masquerade as an 'angel of light.' He doesn't fight fair, does not care for whatever pain and suffering he creates. His goal - to discredit, to devalue, to destroy! But, if you and I stand close to God, we are strong to resist him. Thus James teaches us - "let God work his will in you. Yell a loud 'No' to the Devil and watch him scamper." James 4:7 (The Message)
Have you failed recently? Was it something much more significant than getting the length of race wrong?
Make failure your friend! John Maxwell, former pastor, author, and teacher wrote a book he titled, Failing Forward. (Nelson, 2000) Neat line, isn't it?
In it he contrasts allowing failure to ruin us - failing backward;- and using failure to learn - failing forward.
Some, he writes, blame others, repeat the same mistakes, expect that they will never fail again, accept tradition blindly, allow themselves to be defined by their mistakes, and/or quit. They fail backward.
Others take responsibility, learn, understand that failing is part of the process and inevitable in progress, challenge old assumptions, and persevere. That's failing forward!
Here's a word from the Word to think on today -
Stalwart walks in step with God;
his path blazed by God, he’s happy.
If he stumbles, he’s not down for long;
God has a grip on his hand. -- Psalm 37:23-24 (The Message)
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