What is failure? If I mess up, does that make me a failure?
These words from Robert H. Schuller will bring encouragement to anyone feeling defeated.
Failure does not mean I’m a failure;
It does mean I have not yet succeeded.
Failure does not mean I have accomplished nothing;
It does mean I have learned something;
Failure does not mean I have been a fool,
It does mean I had enough faith to experiment.
Failure does not mean I’ve been disgraced;
It does mean I dared to try.
Failure does not mean I don’t have it;
It does mean I have to do something in a different way.
Failure does not mean I am inferior;
It does mean I am not perfect.
Failure does not mean I’ve wasted my life;
It does mean I have an excuse to start over again.
Failure does not mean I should give up;
It does mean I must try harder.
Failure does not mean I’ll never make it;
It does mean I need more patience.
Failure does not mean God has abandoned me;
It does mean He must have a better idea.
Robert H. Schuller.
Others who turned failure into a blessing
Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.
– Winston Churchill
Success is going from failure to failure without loss of enthusiasm.
Never walk away from failure. On the contrary, study it carefully – and imaginatively – for it has hidden assets.
– Michael Korda
Success did not come easily to Thomas Edison, the man who invented the electric light bulb.
Time after time his experiments failed.
Or did they?
When asked if this lack of success discouraged him he said: “I did not fail 1,073 times. I found 1,703 ways not to do it.”
He always asked himself: “What can I learn from this? How shall I do it differently next time?”
What if our failure is spiritual?
God has given us help in the Bible. *
It happens to us all.
Romans 3:23 “For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard.”
If we repent and confess our failure to God, we will be forgiven
1 John 1:9 “But if we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness.”
God does not condemn you
Romans 8:1-2 “So now there is no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus. And because you belong to him, the power of the life-giving Spirit has freed you from the power of sin that leads to death.”
Learn from the past, but press forward
Philippians 3:13-14 “No, dear brothers and sisters, I have not achieved it [perfection], but I focus on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us.”
*All Bible verses in this post are from the New Living Translation.