Failure

After more than 40 plus years in pastoral work, I am sure now that failure is integral to Christian ministry and making us into a Champion for Christ. It was for Jesus in His ministry: 

-He failed with the young ruler.

-He failed in Nazareth because of the people's unbelief.

-He failed with Judas Iscariot.

-He failed with the bulk of His fellow countrymen.

-He failed with the religious leadership.

-He failed with nine of the ten lepers.

-He failed with Pontius Pilate.

Yet in the face of repeated failure, Jesus taught us to be champions because He remained steadfast in the love of His Father and kept His Father's Word. 

These events in His ministry were not mistakes: 

-He took the risk of being open with people with the love of God. Many responded favorably, but many did not. 

-He ministered in unusual ways that went against what most religious people thought should be.

-He lived what He said and said what He lived.

-He was the faith, but He walked by faith and taught us how to do the same.

If, then, we live in the love of God and listen to the Word of God, we will meet constant failure. It will be tempting, because we live in such a results-dominated society, to see failure as reprehensible and therefore to be avoided. One way to avoid failure is to call it a mistake and then to try to eliminate any mistakes, to make sure we get things right and that we succeed. Many local churches base their activities on such priorities and virtually reject anything that is at all risky, because "we cannot afford to make mistakes." 

He was a sixth-grade dropout, a farmhand, an army mule-tender, a locomotive fireman, a railroad worker, an aspiring lawyer, an insurance salesman, a ferryboat entrepreneur, a tire salesman, an amateur obstetrician, an (unsuccessful) political candidate, a gas station operator, a motel operator and finally, a restaurateur. 

It was his recipe and method of frying chicken that earned him the title of Colonel and he sold his first franchise in 1952 to Mr. Leon "Pete" Harmon in Salt Lake City, Utah. It was a long way from his Corbin, Kentucky home. It was Mr. Harmon that painted the now famous name "Kentucky Fried Chicken" on his State Street cafe and began to sell the chicken by the bucketful. It was also Mr. Harmon that created the first paper bucket filled with 14 pieces of chicken, mashed potatoes, rolls, and gravy, which sold then for $3.50. 

Nobody would have considered Colonel Harland David Sanders as a champion of business when he had so many failures in life. But he never gave up and in spite of all his failures his name and memory lives on.

A Champion for Christ understands that failure is not the end, just the beginning to a closer walk with God.