Few succeed easily. More often than not real success is the fruit of learning from failure. Thomas Edison, inventor of the light bulb, tried 14,000 times before he succeeded in perfecting his product. Abraham Lincoln failed as shopkeeper, as a lawyer. In private life he lost his sweetheart and had a nervous breakdown. In politics he was several times unsuccessful in his attempts to be elected as a congressman or senator. Eventually he became one of the most famous Presidents of the United States. Nelson Mandela spent much of his adult life in prison before he became the first black President of South Africa. Gladys Aylward, with her poor educational background, was rejected as a missionary before she paid her own passage to China and showed her true worth.

 Henry Ford once said “Failure is the opportunity to begin again more intelligently.” That is part of the answer, but not the whole for Christians. Our coming to faith is inextricably connected with the recognition that we are failures. Failure is part of the definition of sin. One of the words that the New Testament uses for sin means, “to aim and miss the mark.” We fail to live up to God’s standards and values. As moral failures we not only need to exercise our intelligence to begin again we also have to seek God’s grace and forgiveness.

For the area we most commonly fail in is that of relationships. People are much more difficult than things. To build a marriage, to forge a lasting friendship, to create a sense of community, to heal a breach of trust, to reconcile the alienated, these are tasks of great worth, but demand resources of patience, generosity and sensitivity that none of us possesses. In such tasks we are bound to fail at times, so we need to pray for the courage to persevere and wisdom to see how to start again. Frequently we are tempted to give up. It’s then we discover the true mettle of our faith. Do we go the distance or retire hurt from the race? Do we learn to lean on God, or do we leave him and go our own sweet way?

 In our throw away culture perseverance is a much-neglected virtue. Yet the Bible has much to say about it. The reading of Hebrews 11 and 12 is a particularly useful antidote for today’s Christians. Here was a failing Christian Community rather like a failing school. But the writer does not suggest putting in a new management team to undertake special measures; rather he recalls them to fundamentals. They were urged with the example and encouragement of the great men and women of faith in their minds "to run with perseverance the race that is set before them their eyes fixed on Jesus, the author and perfecter, of our faith who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross scorning its shame". (Hebrews 12: 1- 2 abridged)    As Sir Francis Drake declared it is "not the beginning of any great matter but the continuing unto the end until it be thoroughly finished that yields the true glory".    

Don Dowling