The Shoebox, New Year’s Resolutions and Failing.
In my office is a shoebox. It is full of receipts from two
years ago, receipts that were never properly recorded as I normally try to do
before throwing them away.
February has just ended, only two months into the year; and
like the shoebox, there are many things I intended to do on a daily, weekly or
monthly basis that are left undone already.
Many of you may be in the same place, perhaps you have a similar
“shoebox”; it may be physical or it may be spiritual. You made some resolutions for the New Year, maybe “official” ones,
maybe public maybe private. Perhaps you wrote them down, perhaps you didn’t.
But between Jan. 1st and Feb. 28th, those resolutions,
those desires to do better, have fallen now and then, or perhaps altogether. Perhaps
your “shoebox” is years old, full of old desires and dreams that you have given
up on. Some of these things that we have failed to do, fulfill or accomplish
are serious (sin to omit or commit), others are not so important.
The question now is, what are we going to do about it? We
have a choice to make: either to give up and fail, or try again to succeed. Please
note that the first has determined and guaranteed results, the second is yet to
be decided.
Children fall often while learning to walk; yet, unless
there is a physical handicap that prohibits, all succeed. The christian life is
very similar to a child learning to walk in that we fall repeatedly, either
through ignorance or willful disobedience. Yet some believers seem to grow more
than others, and we often wonder why. I suggest the reason is because some
choose to get back up and go on when they fall, while others decide to remain
where they fell.
In Matt. 26 Jesus took his disciples with him into the
garden to pray, and asked them to watch with him. In his humanity he desired
and needed the comfort of human compassion and friendship. The disciples failed
their best friend and slept while he was in agony of spirit; three times Jesus
came to them, and three times he found them sleeping. They had fallen, but he
would not let them fail. The words of Jesus to his disciples are full of hope
for us today: in verse 46 he said, “Rise, let us be going:” This is what Jesus
wants us to do when we fall, just like the parent encourages their child when
they fall learning to walk. And he does not merely want us to get back up and
go on alone, saying that he is ashamed of us and no longer counts us as a
friend or wants to be with us; but he calls us to walk with him again! Note
well what Jesus said, “let us be
going”. “US”! He is not just going
with us, but is calling us again to walk with him where he goes!
Perhaps you have fallen, but you don’t have to fail. Jesus wants
you to get up, and he is willing to help you do so, and then to walk with you
to keep you from falling again. Stop measuring your success by one moment of
time, by some instance of ‘falling’. We measure the success of the most
successful, not at a moment, but over time and often not until the end of their
life. If you have breath left, there is still time to try to succeed.
Remember: you and I will remain where we fall if we refuse to get back
up again; this is failing. Do you want to remain where you are? I
don’t. But the only way not to is to “Rise, …and be going”. Falling is temporary, failing is permanent;
the first is natural, the second a choice. Maybe we’ve fallen so hard that all
we can do at the first is to get up on our hands and knees and crawl, but Jesus
wants us to get back up!
There are examples in the Bible of men who fell, two of
which serve well to our point. Both Saul and David fell, but only one failed
(1Sam. 15 and Psa. 51). The difference between them was that David was humble
enough to admit his sin and ask for forgiveness and help, while Saul was proud
and refused to confess his wrong. Which will we be like? Are we willing to
admit our fallings? Are we willing to believe God when he says that he will
forgive us and help us up again? 1John 1:9
Everyone falls, but it is only those that refuse to get back
up and go on that fail. Will you merely fall, or will you fail?
“Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this
one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth
unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of
the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.” Philip. 3:13,14
Today is a new day, today is a new month: “Rise, let us be
going:”
