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- Thank God For Failure
“And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose.”
Thank God for failure. Thank God for losses.
This is something that I’ve been pondering recently.
If you’ve grown up with me or you just generally know anything about me, you will know that I am extremely competitive. A lot of times to a fault. I hate to lose. I love to find ways to win. There’s something about the gritty nature of competing that I just love. That’s probably why I became a coach.
I remember the times playing sports as a young kid where the only score that was kept was on a notepad by my mom where only I would know the final outcome. Everyone else would be in it for the snacks after the game. Everyone would relish getting a trophy at the end. No one keeps score for a 8u basketball game. But I would beg my mom to just so I would know.
It’s a character trait about myself that I love in some circumstances. But it’s something that has led to obsession in other ways. It has led to me behaving in ways I shouldn’t. It has led to me damaging relationships. It has led me in the opposite direction of humility and dependence on God.
Competing for excellence is a valiant thing to strive for. Training to accomplish something is honorable. But one thing that I’ve learned is that saying that you’re competing for God’s glory and actually competing for God’s glory are two different mindsets.
Many Christians will give God the glory only in their victories. Can God not also receive the glory in our defeats?
Defeats in life are God’s way of guiding us by teaching us humility, resilience, and dependence on Him.
I think we need to redefine success then. In many modern day contexts, success means accomplishing a goal set before you.
As a coach, I love this quote about success from John Wooden:
“Success is peace of mind which is a direct result of self-satisfaction in knowing you did your best to become the best you are capable of becoming.”
Success is knowing you gave your best?
I think the Christian can draw some truth from this.
For the Christian, success is giving your best while understanding and accepting God’s will in our lives, regardless of how we perceive the outcome. We won’t always deem the outcome in a satisfactory manner. Losing hurts. Give your best effort anyways. God can still receive the glory in either outcome.
You are not competing for yourself. You are not working for yourself.
If we grow closer to our Heavenly Father and his glory is made known, it’s successful. Because God is always at work. He shapes our journey according to His design.
Success isn’t only about the visible outcome, but about how God’s purpose is fulfilled in our lives. Defeat, then, doesn’t mean that God’s will is NOT being accomplished. Instead, He uses our defeats to mold us, shape us, and guide us towards the path He has chosen.
This is different than how the world perceives defeat. We’ve all been taught that it’s through our losses that we learn. For the Christian, it’s much greater than that. We recognize our reliance on God through defeat. Our faith is more solidified. There is no greater success for the Christian!
As Christians, we understand this concept of victory occurring in the face of apparent defeat. The crucifixion was perceived by many at the time as a devastating defeat. Imagine the 3 days in waiting. What thoughts might have occurred?
“Our Lord has lost…”
“Sin remains the victor…”
“Why did I put my hope in the losing fighter…?”
But the perceived defeat of the crucifixion was just that - a PERCEIVED defeat! It was a necessary step to the resurrection, the greatest victory of all! Victory over sin and death!
“Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?… But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ!”
We can trust that God uses our moments of defeat for greater victories. We know that He works all things for our good. And we may not perceive it as good on this side of heaven.
But if His name is glorified and others come to know of His love and truth through it, then it is a victory indeed.
We know of a victory in apparent defeat. May we live out that victory every day.
To God be the glory.
📚️ RESOURCES
💭 QUOTE OF THE DAY
“Use the Internet to turn what you love into something that blesses others, rather than turning what you hate int something that angers others. What would happen if everyone started to use the Internet more to celebrate the good than to add to the nice with hateful tweets and trigger-happy rants? What would happen if we used our online platforms to praise others rather than for promoting our own views and signaling our own virtue? What if we spent more time online publicly honoring people we do know than publicly shaming people we don’t?”
🧰 COACH’S TOOLBOX
Secular article here, but I love some of the thoughts of James Clear. His “Atomic Habits” book is one of my Top 5 reads probably. Anyways, he talks about the 3 stages of failure here and how we can utilize failure as leaders.
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I pray that your day is full of reminders of God’s love and faithfulness. May you faithfully build your life on Christ.
“But He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in my weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.” - 2 Corinthians 12:9-10
To God be the glory,
Coach T