Bouncing Back From Failure

Everybody fails in life from time to time. How can you bounce back from failure without it destroying your life? To answer that question, we need to look at what failure is all about. True failure is always caused by sin. The Greek word for sin is hamartia which means to miss the mark. The picture here is of an arrow missing the bull’s eye of the target. The Bible tells us in

Romans 3:23 (NIV) for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.

Here the picture of sin or failure is of falling short of what God created you to do, falling short of the glory God intended to receive from your life. So God is not happy when we fail to follow his plans for our lives, but He wants to help you escape from failure mode and get back on track with His purpose.

When people fail in life or face very adverse circumstances, they generally respond in one of two ways. Some people feel defeated, they lose hope, they feel paralyzed and depressed. Oftentimes, they look for someone else to blame for their problems, maybe even God Himself. They have a victim mentality and believe they are powerless to change their circumstances. People who lose hope  and are full of fear have great difficulty in bouncing back from failure.

On the other hand, when other people fail in life, they have a hope for life beyond their failure. They look to learn from their failure and see it as an opportunity to grow and do better in the future. Failure actually energizes these kind of people to work harder, to try something new and rise to the challenge.

How can you have hope and bounce back from failure like this second kind of person? Only through God’s help and presence. In Matthew 14, the disciples were in a life threatening circumstance. They were stuck in a ferocious storm in the middle of a lake in the middle of the night. In their time of great need, Jesus came to them walking on the water. He spoke to them and said:

Matthew 14:27 (NIV) But Jesus immediately said to them: “Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.”

In the midst of your difficulty, whether your fault or not, you need to fix your eyes on Jesus. Notice that He commands the disciples to both take courage and not be afraid. The only reason these commands made any sense was because Jesus was there with them. So, whatever you’re facing today, give it over to God. Ask Him to fill your heart with hope and courage. Ask Him to take away your fear and worry.

When Jesus is with you, He is always ready to forgive and give you a fresh start in life. As long as you’re breathing, God has a plan for your life. He has a next step to take you out of your failure. Seek Him and He will help you bounce back from failure.

Listen to my May 24, 2009 message “Bouncing Back From Failure.”