Selfrighteous Misunderstanding of Success
When we work hard toward a goal and achieve it we should be proud of our success and we should grow confident that when we give effort toward an outcome we can do it. However, often we succeed just because we were in the right place at the right time. Some people are just lucky.
When we experience this kind of success we often believe that somehow we deserve it. If it is something we really want, or even prayed for it is easy to begin patting ourselves on the back. Even after wandering in the wilderness for 40 years because of disobedience people will still be people and if we lose focus on the fact that we are wicked and lost without God’s provision of a Savior we begin to think we did something when in reality we were just there.
“4 Do not think to yourself after the Lord your God has driven them out before you, “Because of my own righteousness the Lord has brought me here to possess this land.” It is because of the wickedness of these nations that the Lord is driving them out ahead of you. 5 It is not because of your righteousness, or even your inner uprightness, that you have come here to possess their land. Instead, because of the wickedness of these nations the Lord your God is driving them out ahead of you in order to confirm the promise he made on oath to your ancestors, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.”
The F Word – Our Perspective Defines It
Failure
As a scientist I know that one must generate a logical set of ideas about what, why, how, when, and where in order to partake in the discovery process. Seldom does one have a dream of a new compound or a new architectural or engineering structure and then immediately develop it without change to the original idea. Ignoring that Ironman made it look so incredibly easy to make an entirely new element the generation of that element was necessary because his initial invention was killing him. So, was the initial invention a failure, or just a stepping stone to a better one?
In our ideas about the decisions that make up our every day and those that lead to what looks like failure from many perspectives we should remember that although we may have chosen incorrectly we can still achieve success. When it comes to our ideas about God the Father, about Jesus, about the Holy Spirit and about how much attention we pay to each of them throughout the day we must view the times we failed to include or recognize Him as steps to an increasing awareness of His presence.
The great thing about Failure is that it happened? It may or may not happen again. The place where we have a willingness to risk failure is the place where faith increases. The place where we are willing to step forward in the midst of doubt is the place He is made strong.
Even Honda seems to recognize the value of 2 Corinthians 12:9-10.
But he said to me, “My grace is enough for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” So then, I will boast most gladly about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may reside in me. Therefore I am content with weaknesses, with insults, with troubles, with persecutions and difficulties for the sake of Christ, for whenever I am weak, then I am strong. – 2 Corinthians 12:9-10 NET