Good Failure

If you have ever tried something for God and you were met with failure, here is what I want to say to you today: thank you. Thank you for trying. Thank your for action and movement. Failure is not always a bad thing, because failure will oftentimes precede success. Failure can actually teach us success because we can learn from our mistakes.

Since I became lead minister here at Oakwood in 2008, I've had a lot of learning to do. Many mistakes have littered my path along the way, but I tried to learn a lesson from each one. I'm a lot better for it now, guaranteed! As I speak with other church leaders around the country, it is always good for me to hear how the "bigs" make mistakes too, and are still learning themselves. It has been said that if at first you don't succeed, try, try again. But let me restate that in a new way: If at first you don't succeed, relax. You are just like the rest of us.

We beat ourselves up when we fail because we didn't emerge with the greatest success of all time. But often it is through process of learning what not to do that we better learn what to do in the future. We need to be in the practice of good failure. This is failure at its best. It's good because it's a failure where we fail forward, learning from our mistakes.

In Matthew 14 we find the story of a failure, one of the most spectacular failures of all time. It is the story of Peter, who walked on the water with Jesus. It is also the story of his sinking after he walked on the water with Jesus. But the fact is, the Bible tells us that Peter "went over the side of the boat and walked on the water toward Jesus" (verse 29). That was a great moment, and whatever followed cannot undo it. We can find fault with Peter for a number of things, but no one else in the boat attempted to do what Peter did. He failed, yes. But at least he was doing something!

It is easy to sit like armchair quarterbacks and critique people who are out there leading, out there trying to make a difference. But we need to ask ourselves, "What have I done lately? Have I taken a risk for the kingdom of God?" I would far rather try and fail than never do anything at all. You can recover from a mistake, but you can't recover from stagnation. Do something for the Lord and His Kingdom today. Make sure it's a call to action. And if you fail at it, make it good!