Successful Failure

Are you a successful failure?

“Now hold on just a minute! How can you be a failure if you’ve succeeded?”

Good question. For a clue to the answer, ponder this observation by Tim Kizziar: “Our greatest fear should not be of failure but of succeeding at things in life that don’t really matter.”

Imagine being magnificently successful at the inconsequential. That’s a successful failure.

The Bible says that sometimes we’re like sheep. Sheep have perfected the art of successful failure. When a sheep sees a tasty tuft of turf on a ledge, it goes for it, regardless of the risk of falling. The sheep gives no thought to the consequences of its pursuit of momentary pleasure.

The sad result is that, unless rescued by a shepherd, the sheep often plunges to its death. It may have successfully eaten the grass, but in the long run, the sheep failed at living.

Jesus once told a story about a successful farmer. His harvest was so bountiful he had to build bigger barns to hold it. Delighted with his success, he planned an early retirement.

While he was gloating, God said, “You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?” Jesus added, “This is how it will be with anyone who stores up things for himself but is not rich toward God.”

Now fast forward about 60 years to a group of church-goers who boasted, “I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.” But Jesus said to this church, “You do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked.”

Jesus advises them to give up what they thought was important and valuable and exchange it for what really matters. To pursue spiritual riches from him instead of material possessions from this world. If they do, he says they will end up succeeding beyond anything on earth.

What is Jesus saying? He is saying it doesn’t matter whether you are religious or non- religious—either way, if you pursue a life based on materialism, it will ultimately disappoint you. You may think you’re a success, but it ends up being a failure forever.

However, if a person follows Christ and trusts in him, if that person serves God and pursues righteousness, he or she will be successful forever. And I’ll take ‘successful forever’ over a successful failure any day!

God encourages us to consider our ways. To think about the road we’re traveling in life.

Where is your journey taking you?

Jesus’ perspective on life is very sobering. He said, “Wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.”

Which group do you want to be in—the successful failures or those who are successful forever? If you’re on the wrong path, swallow your pride and admit it. Otherwise you’ll end up like a sheep on a ledge. And the end of that path isn’t pretty!

The good news is that God allows U-turns. If your life up to this point has been marked by the pursuit of the trivial, if you’ve been going nowhere fast—turn around!

Jesus says to us, “Follow me. Believe in me. Trust me.” He is the only Shepherd who can rescue you from the dangerous ledges of life. And if you follow him and trust in what he did for you on the cross, he will change your successful failure into “successful forever.”

Listen to the Bible; it’s great for your soul!