Failure

Then Jesus said to them, “All of you will run away, because it is written: I will strike the shepherd,and the sheep will be scattered. 28 But after I have been resurrected, I will go ahead of you to Galilee.” 29 Peter told Him, “Even if everyone runs away, I will certainly not!”30 “I assure you,” Jesus said to him, “today, this very night, before the rooster crows twice, you will deny Me three times!”31 But he kept insisting, “If I have to die with You, I will never deny You!” And they all said the same thing.

Mark 14:27-31 (HCSB)

Peter is so bold. He insists that he would never run away, he would never deny. But he does. And all the other disciples said the same thing and they did. There is an important lesson for the Christ Follower here. Be careful about your bold proclamations. We are all susceptible to failure and to deny Christ. Talk is easy. The walk can be so hard. Yet Jesus knows that they will fail. He knew their response. In fact he knew because Scripture proclaimed it.

You may be asking, "is there a positive message here?" Yes, thanks for asking, there is. It is this: that even after the ALL failed Jesus came to them as He said He would. While they denied Him, He did not forsake them. Failure is going to happen. It's not an excuse but reality. If you think that you can go through your Christian life without failure you will be disappointed or you will be lying to yourself. But Jesus forgive and still uses us in spite of ourselves.

So when failure comes. Cry out for forgiveness and move on. Don't dwell on it. Don't accept it. But move on to the next challenge and through our failure we will learn obedience which is success for the Christ Follower.