Life's Tough Ten 3.Fear of Failure

One of the benefits of participating in sports is that it forces you to deal with failure.  A great football quarterback completes about 60% of his passes, meaning he fails 40% of the time!  A great basketball player makes about 45% of his shots, meaning he misses 55% of the time!  A great baseball player safely hits about 30% of the time, meaning he is grounds, flies, or strikes out about 70% of the time!  Players that meet those standards of success generally make millions of dollars for playing a game they would play for so much less.  What they learn is that failure is not fatal if you refuse to give up, learn from your mistakes, and give it one more try!

Fear is one of the most paralyzing emotions in the human existence.  We can fear all kinds of things, but the fear of failure not only paralyzes us, it disqualifies us in the game of life, because failure is a real part of every human life!  The bible is clear, "For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind." 2 Timothy 1:7 KJV.  Fear does not come from God...guess who?  Failure in life is both normal and inevitable.  However failure can also be profitable!  God has always used failure as one of His most powerful teaching tools.  The question is are you willing to learn and do what it takes to turn your present failure, into your future success.

All the greats in the bible did just that!  Abraham did it!  Joseph did it!  David did it!  Paul did it, and so many more.  All pointing to the sinless perfect one who would come as God dressed in human flesh to show us the ultimate way of escaping the fear of failure by His victorious sacrifice for each one of us on the cross, our Savior, Jesus Christ!  Failure displays our humanity.  Trusting Christ in all of life's ups and downs is the pathway to victory as He gives you strength in your times of need!

You can score a touchdown in life by trusting Christ in tough things!  You can slam dunk by trusting God in testing times!  You can hit a home-run by trusting God in the terrifying times, when fear threatens to halt your forward progress in the race of life! You can even turn your fear of failure into the thrill of victory, by making the wise choice to trust God at ALL times!  Remember only Jesus shot 100%!  So don't fear failure.  Embrace it!  Learn from it!  Grow from it!  As I wrote as a senior in high school, "It's better to try and not succeed, than to be among those of faint of heart, who didn't have the faith and courage to try at all"

WHAT ARE YOU AFRAID YOU WILL FAIL IN LIFE?  WILL YOU FOCUS ON CHRIST?  WILL YOU TAKE A STEP OF FAITH!  

HE WILL NEVER FAIL YOU!  AS A CHRISTIAN WE KNOW IN THE END, WE WIN!!!