1 John 2:1
My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have an advocate with the Father – Jesus Christ, the Righteous One.
If I were writing 1 John 2:1 it would come out a little more like this…
Hey, I really hope you don’t find yourself doing things wrong. However, when you do, don’t try to hide it or pretend you didn’t screw up. It’s OK! Admit you are wrong, learn from it and move on. Jesus has you covered. He is there to help. He died for your sins. You will be forgiven.
~1 John 2:1 (Tabetha Version)
God knew we were not going to be perfect. He knew we were going to need Jesus to help us out of our sin. He also knew that Jesus dying wasn’t going to keep us from screwing up.
I have a philosophical question for you…is it failure if we learn from it?
I was reading a devotion this morning. The author was saying trying to get across how to fail successfully. He used a quote from inventor Charles Kettering that suggested we must learn to fail intelligently. He said, “Once you’ve failed, analyze the problem and find out why, because each failure is one more step leading to the cathedral of success.”
I love this idea of learning to fail successfully. Kettering went on to explain in order to do so one must do three things. (1) Face defeat, don’t fake success. (2) Learn all can from the mistake. (3) Never use failure as an excuse to not keep trying.
So, to answer my own question, no I don’t think it is truly failure if we learn from it. To stay in the light with Jesus (1 john 1:7) does not mean to not make mistakes. It means to own up to them, learn from them and start again.
Remember Jesus is always there to be our advocate. He will give you sound advice even when you screw up. So don’t be a failure. Be an Intelligent Failure!
Copyright © 2018 Tabetha Frick All Rights Reserved.
Tabetha version. 😆 I will use this in teaching my child who is too hard on himself. Failure isn’t bad! It’s a path to success. ❤️