Many (if not most) of you reading this article have a special sporting team or sporting event that you follow {albeit, football, hockey, basketball, baseball, swimming, skating, wrestling, boxing, tennis, gymnastics, bull / horseback riding, car racing, etc.}. Likewise, you also follow specific individuals participating on the respective teams and/or in the events; in other words, you keep up with their stats on a regular basis. One thing that is universally understood is that for each person and/or team participating, their eyes are on the final outcome – that is, being rewarded for “being the best”. However, for every individual or team, one thing is also universally understood, they will have a misstep (a stumble, a fall, a fumble, an off day). But what is most notable about these individuals / teams is that for those who truly want to be rewarded for being the best, they will immediately get up from their misstep and proceed on. The important thing to note here is that they do not dwell on the “misstep”; they will stay focused on the “reward”; for it very well could mean that their performance throughout the remainder of either their event or their season may very well have completely overshadowed the earlier “misstep”.
Throughout our Christian lives there will be times when we will stumble and fall; but the question before us, “Will we get up after the fall and go forward?” Sometimes our failures are due to our lack of preparation and sometimes our failures are due to Satan knocking us off the track. Jesus stated to His disciples in Luke 22:31-32,
“And the Lord said, Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat: But I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not: and when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren.”
Our failures should be considered as a “teachable moment” for our lives, in that we learn from our mistakes and then go forward in the Lord’s work. We do need to examine what we did wrong and learn from it. As the athlete will go back and review the films of their last performance to hone their skills for the next event, a child of God must likewise do the same. The apostle Paul wrote in Philippians 3:13-16,
“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. Let us therefore, as many as be perfect, be thus minded: and if in any thing ye be otherwise minded, God shall reveal even this unto you. Nevertheless, whereto we have already attained, let us walk by the same rule, let us mind the same thing.”
Let us be reminded here, we can’t change the “misstep’ – but we can learn from it and go forward.
Our “preparation” for the Lord’s work must be uninterrupted; forgetting the past and marching toward the prize. Unfortunately, too often we dwell on the “failure” and we lose sight of the “prize”. Preparation and self-examination must continually improve through prayer, study of God’s Word, and most importantly application of God’s Word.
1 Thessalonians 5:17 states,
“Pray without ceasing.”
2 Timothy 2:15 states,
“Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.”
And Romans 12:1-2 states,
“I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.”
Consider for a moment if the skater dwelt on a “fall”; the rest of the routine would subsequently be a disaster – or if the quarterback dwelt on an interception; the rest of the game would be a disaster. Now, consider what happens when a child of God dwells on a “failure”; their work for the Lord stops. Note the following admonishment.
Luke 9:62,
“And Jesus said unto him, No man, having put his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.”
Let us learn to get up after a fall, examine what we did wrong, modify our behavior as necessary (that is, our prayer time, study time, application and transformation) and then, go forward for the Lord!
