Recently I heard a mom of three children say, “I want my children to
experience failure before they grow up and leave my house and are out on their own. I want
to help them work through the failure, learn from the failure, and overcome the
challenges of the failure.”
Her statement got
my attention. There is a side of me that does not want to see my children fail
or experience hardships. But, I do want them to learn to be resilient, to learn
to depend on God for help, and to learn to persevere.
James 1:2-4 states,
“Count it all joy,
my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know
that the testing of
your faith produces
steadfastness. And let
steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.”
Trials, hardships, and failures are classrooms
for learning patience, humility, and steadfastness. Through them God can
increase our faith in Him and grow our dependence on Him.
We all want the promise at the end of this
passage: “perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.” Okay, this may not happen until heaven, but none the less trials can get us closer to these targets.
I do not pray for failure for my children or myself, but I
do pray for genuine faith, true humility, and godly grit and resilience. I do not
know how God will accomplish this, and I realize the clearest lessons in life
often come through moments of failure. Amazingly, God works mistakes,
hardships, and trials for the good of Christians. He brings victory from failure.
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