how often can you fail?

Failure is a word I hate. Not that I infrequently encounter it, rather that it and I are too acquainted. For many, failure is associated with 'losing,' with 'not measuring up,' with 'not good enough,' with 'others are better,' with 'messed up,' and so on. And with some, it quickly unravels to the thought of 'no one, not even God or my closest family likes me.'

Failure is a field where lies can grow. Failure is also a pause in time where, if it is not met with goodness, can harm for years to come. I've felt many many times. Whatever arena it is found--sports, morality, relationships, writing--it can crush a soul.

But we don't have to live in the presence of our past; we don't have to wake up and live in the memory of yesteryear. It is not some magical mind trick; it is Jesus. 

All the times toy have not failed will never satisfy you. You can do 1,000 things perfectly right and the one thing you failed in will ruin it all. And if you did 1,000,000,000,000 things right you'd feel even WORSE about the one failure! You can't escape the imperfection of who you are. But we can go to Jesus in our imperfection and know that we are forgiven, we are loved, our existence is worth maintaining.

We are all going to fail in a multitude of magnitude and type. But if we are walking with Jesus our failures don't win; he wins. Death won't sting, it'll open a big door entering Jesus' brothers and sisters into an eternity without the torment of those mistakes we all have made.

God is good in his grace he grandiosely provides. If we are his, our failure loses, not us.