Your Daily Devotional for June 19, 2006

 

June 19, 2006

Failure Is Not Final

by Dr. Paul Chappell

 

“Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.”

Philippians 3:13-14

 

If anyone had a reason to quit before the race ever began it was the Apostle Paul. Paul was the self-proclaimed chief of sinners and a great persecutor of the church. Before his conversion, his notorious reputation had so spread among the Christians that Ananias was terrified to meet him. When Paul first preached Christ in the synagogues, “all that heard him were amazed, and said; Is not this he that destroyed them which called on this name in Jerusalem, and came hither for that intent, that he might bring them bound unto the chief priests?” (Acts 9:21). Despite these many obstacles that were before him, Paul started his race, and through successes and failures, he kept going and pressed “toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.”

 

Though at some point we have all felt like failures and could identify with the Apostle Paul, we can learn a valuable lesson from his life: in God’s economy, failure is not final.

 

When we fail, our adversary, the devil, will attempt to convince us that we have done irreparable damage; he is the accuser of the brethren and is constantly trying to get Christians to quit. When the devil reminds you of your past, remind him of his future, because the victory has already been won through Christ Jesus.

 

God wants to use our failures as a way of preparing us to go forward in the Christian life. Consider, for example, the many great men in the past who have gone through one failure after another, and then by God’s providential hand, were placed in a position of usefulness. I think of one man who failed in two business ventures, was defeated for State Legislature, was defeated for Speaker of the House, was defeated for Elector, was defeated for Congress, was defeated for Senate twice, and was defeated for Vice President all before being elected as the President of the United States of America. That man was Abraham Lincoln, and he went on to serve a great presidency during a very difficult time in our nation’s history.

 

There are many examples of men in the Bible whom God was still able to use greatly after a failure. Moses slew an Egyptian and then spent forty years on the back side of a desert before he was ready to be used by God. Peter denied the Lord three times and then resolved to “go a fishing” before he ever saw the day of Pentecost. John Mark was rejected by the Apostle Paul because he “thought not good to take him with them, who departed from them from Pamphylia, and went not with them to the work” (Acts 15:38). All of these men experienced a time of failure followed by a time of proving. Though they could have dropped off the scene, they stuck with it and were greatly used by God.

 

God will use your failures to strengthen and prepare you for what lies ahead. Whether or not you will press toward the mark will largely be determined by your perspective. If you want to be distressed, look within; if you want to be defeated, look back; if you want to be distracted, look around; if you want to be dismayed, look ahead; but if you want to be delivered, look up!

 

Have you felt like quitting the race? Have you been discouraged by failures or difficulties? Keep this powerful truth from God’s Word in your heart today, and press on! Look up to the cross of Christ; claim your victory through His shed blood; and continue to “press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.” 

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