The Fear Factor
WHAT ARE YOU AFRAID OF?
One of my favorite passages of Scripture is 2 Corinthians 4:8-10 because it speaks of the struggle of life and at the same time the ultimate victory.
2 Corinthians 4:8-10
In every way we’re troubled but not crushed, frustrated but not in despair, persecuted but not abandoned, struck down but not destroyed. We are always carrying around the death of Jesus in our bodies, so that the life of Jesus may be clearly shown in our bodies.
Fear of Failure
Christians are not normal people. We don’t think like normal people. We aren’t cynics or optimists. We are people who see life from an unearthly perspective. Normal people see life rooted firmly in the human view – which is most often dirty, messy, and broken.
Listen to Stephen Pile’s comment on human success…
Success is overrated. Everyone craves it despite daily proof that man’s real genius lies in quite the opposite direction. Incompetence is what we are good at. It is the quality that marks us off from animals and we should learn to revere it.
Stephen Pile, The Incomplete Book of Failures
Stephen Pile chronicled some of the biggest failures in modern history.
There was the teacher who said that Thomas Edison was, "too stupid to learn." And of course there was Albert Einstein’s teacher who said that little Albert was, "mentally slow, unsociable and adrift forever in his foolish dreams."
Do you think that big companies are always successful? Remember the “Edsel”? It was noted for a door that wouldn’t close, a hood that wouldn’t open and horn that wouldn’t honk. There is not on record of anyone every stealing an Edsel!
Then there was the Decca Records executive that rejected the Beatles because they wouldn’t amount to anything and the newspaper editor who fired Walt Disney because he lack ideas. And of course it’s only to be expected that the Disney executives years later would be the ones who rejected Star Wars, claiming it would flop at the box office. And then there was “New Coke”. That lasted all of 6 weeks!
Then there are the little failures…
During 1978 during the fireman’s strike in England, the British army took over emergency firefighting. On January 14 they were called out by an elderly lady in South London to retrieve her cat. They arrived with impressive haste, very cleverly and carefully rescued the cat, and started to drive away. But the lady was so grateful she invited the squad of heroes in for tea. Driving off later with fond farewells and warm waving of arms, they ran over the cat and killed it.
Fear of Failure
We all mess up, fail, and make bad choices
but this doesn’t mean that we should fear failing or that real success is at worst impossible and at best elusive to all but the lucky elite.
But most people today are so afraid of failing or so cynical about the possibility of success that they don’t really try to do much of anything. They are paralyzed by fear and hopelessness.
It is true that we fail…
Even at our best, we fail. Welcome to the human race! I hope you’ll see your failures as something less than fatal and certainly not to be feared. Don’t be afraid of Failure! Overcome it! Use the failures to become a better person and a stronger reflection of the reality God painted in you when he imagined you.
One of mankind’s most remarkable failures led to remarkable progress.
Have you ever heard of the Tacoma Narrows Bridge? It was also known as “Galloping Gertie”! The first Tacoma Narrows Bridge was built in 1940 to connect the city of Tacoma and the surrounding Puget Sound with the Peninsula area and thereby not only encouraging growth, but making a fine shortcut to the Olympic Mountains. Certain design flaws were to be the bridges undoing however as it collapsed a mere 4 months and seven days after dedication.
The bridge soon became a regular tourist attraction. People came from all around the area to pay their toll to ride the roller-coaster that was called Galloping Gertie. At times the rolling was so severe that you couldn’t see the car in front of you.
From the day of its opening the bridge began to experience oscillations. Strange as it may seem, traffic on the bridge increased tremendously as a result of its novel behavior. Starting at about 7:00 on the morning of November 7, 1940, the bridge began undulating persistently for three hours. Segments of the span were heaving periodically up and down as much as three feet. At about 10:00a.m., something seemed to snap and the bridge began oscillating wildly.
At one moment, one edge of the roadway was twenty-eight feet higher than the other; the next moment it was twenty-eight feet lower than the other edge. At 10:30 a.m. the bridge began cracking, and finally, at 11:10 a.m. the entire bridge came crashing down. Fortunately, only one car was on the bridge at the time of its failure. It belonged to a newspaper reporter who had to abandon the car and its sole remaining occupant, a pet dog, when the bridge began its violent twisting motion. The reporter reached safety, torn and bleeding, by crawling on hands and knees, desperately clutching the curb of the bridge. His dog went down with the car and the span - the only life lost in the disaster.
As a result of this disaster engineers from all over the world studied this failure and learned through the use of wind tunnels and testing how to build a safe and strong suspension bridge – and it’s a good thing! What if we had stopped there? No Mackinac Bridge would have been built and all the uppers would have had stayed in the U.P and the lopers would have stayed trolls and just lived under the bridge!
Failure can be a devastating blow that destroys you or it can be a precious gift that helps you grow!
But you have to start with… The Right Definition for Success
If you succeed in achieving the wrong goal – you fail!
I was golfing at Waverly a few weeks ago – it was not pretty I assure you! - when I had a one of the more frustrating experienced in my life. At the 8th Hole – you know, the short over the marsh – a nice easy par 3. It is possible! Anyway, I hit what was for me a pretty good shot – nice and straight. No slice, no hook, no duff off the tee into the hungry marsh. I was a nice beautiful loft right straight at the pin. It was a little short but it was pretty.
Only one real problem – I hit the ball at the wrong green! You see, from that 8th tee you can see the green from the 5th hole. In fact they are right next to each other and somehow I saw that green, focused on it and ignored the other one entirely. Never even saw it. Now that’s exasperating!
When you climb the ladder of success make sure it’s leaning on the right wall!
The Right Definition for Success
Ecclesiastes 12:13-14
Everything you were taught can be put into a few words: Respect and obey God! This is what life is all about. God will judge everything we do, even what is done in secret, whether good or bad.
The Right Definition for Success
The best definition of “Real Success” I have ever heard I heard given by John Maxwell at a Promise Keepers Rally in Indianapolis, IN at the RCA Dome about 7 years ago.
Real Success is being loved and respected by those who know you best
Now, Who knows you better than God? Who knows you better than your husband or wife? Who knows you better than your mom, dad, brothers, sisters, or even your kids.
Success has nothing to do with stuff. It has everything to do with love and respect. And that love and respect comes from who you are - not from what you have done, what you’ve accumulated, or who you can count as friend.
Start there and then…
Accept Failure as a Fact of Life, Not A Description of Your Life
Simon, the disciple knew all about failure
He failed to walk on the water
He failed when he suggested building a shrine when Jesus was transfigured and Moses and Elijah appeared
He failed when he refused to allow Jesus to wash his feet
He failed to stand up for Jesus during the trial before Herod
He failed to stand with Jesus at the foot of the cross and fled instead
Simon screwed up just about everything he tried to do for God
He was a failing fool!
But Jesus called Simon, Peter (which means rock) and helped him face his failures, address his failings, and become a success!
Peter preached one of the greatest sermons in Christianity and 3,000 people got saved!
Don’t ever let someone call you a failure or a loser.
You are not your resume!
Failure is an event, not a person. It’s something you do, not something you are.
That is easy to forget! Sometimes we get so frustrated with ourselves or with others that it’s easy to confuse the failures with the persons.
Consider the top ten Employee Evaluation statements taken from actual employee performance evaluations in a large US Corporation.
I don’t recommend that you use them...
Top 10 Employee Evaluations
10. "Takes him 2 hours to watch 60 minutes."
9. "One neuron short of a synapse."
8. "If you see two people talking and one of them looks bored, he’s the other one."
7. "When his IQ reaches 50, he should sell."
6. "If you stand close enough to him, you can hear the oceans."
5. "Gates are down, the lights are flashing, but the train isn’t coming."
4. "He certainly takes a long time to make his point pointless."
3. "This employee is depriving a village somewhere of an idiot."
2. "The wheel is turning, but the hamster is dead."
1. "Works well when under constant supervision and cornered like a rat in a trap."
Accept Failure as a Fact of Life, Not A Description of Your Life
I know that some of you here this morning have to deal with people in your lives
Many of you have significant people in your life who have looked at you and seen a failure. A lot of you have believed them.
Listen to me, No matter what these bosses thought of their employees… No matter what your parents may have said to you in a moment of anger or in premeditated disgust… No matter what your x said to you, about you, or to your children… No matter what the coach said to you when you screwed up the shot and lost the game… No matter what time you’ve spent in prison, jail, detention, or the principal’s office… No matter how many times you’ve been fired, punished, penalized, rebuked, reproved, disciplined, admonished, spanked, or just plain chewed out… understand this one very important fact.
God never made one loser – ever!
God never imagined a failure when he created you. No, when God created you – he imagined a wonderful, joy filled successful person.
If that’s true – and it is – then how do we get from here to there!
Learn to change what you can and accept what you cannot! Not all Failure is the same
Some Failure is caused by events you don’t control. Job had all kinds of things happen to him that led to what was viewed by others as failure.
In fact he almost threw in the towel himself… but he didn’t! He accepted it and went on. Some of life is like that.
But Some Failure is caused by our own sin
It is this kind of failure that must be learned from and changed. To be successful in life you have to REPENT. (Repent simply means change)
You can’t keep doing what you’ve been doing and expect a different result! You have to change something…
Jesus said it this way in Luke 12:1-5...
At that time, some people who were there told Jesus about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mixed with their sacrifices. He asked them, "Do you think that these Galileans were more sinful than all the other Galileans because they suffered like this?
Absolutely not, I tell you! But if you don’t repent, then you, too, will all die.
What about those eighteen people who were killed when the tower at Siloam fell on them? Do you think they were worse offenders than all the other people living in Jerusalem?
Absolutely not, I tell you! But if you don’t repent, then you, too, will all die."
Learn to change what you can and accept what you cannot! You MUST repent from the things that cause failure!
It is the pain of failure helps us change! So Change!!!
Learn and change!
Tom Watson Sr., founded IBM and guided "Big Blue" for over 40 years. One of his most impressive moments in leadership occurred when a junior executive lost an enormous amount of money ($10 million) on a risky venture for the company. Watson called the man into the office and the man entered and nervously blurted out, "I guess you want my resignation?" Watson replied, "You can’t be serious. We’ve just spent $10 million educating you."
Remember Jonah and the Whale?
Why was he in the whale? (Running from God’s will for him to go to Nineveh.) What do you do in the belly for a whale for 3 days? (You stink and you think)
Jonah 3:1 Then the word of the LORD came to Jonah a second time: "Go to the great city of Nineveh and proclaim to it the message I give you."
"Here’s the map again. Go get’em!" And 120,000
Ninevites repented because one failure named Jonah repented. (That is – He Changed!)
What will be different because you Repent?
OK!
Enough, already… Let’s go do it. With God’s Desire, Jesus Vision, and Holy Spirit Power…
Arise From Failure & Start Again
An old Scottish preacher by the name of Alexander Whyte said of Christians,
“they fall down, they get up, they fall down, they get up...all the way to heaven.” Alexander Whyte, Scottish preacher
Arise From Failure & Start Again.
NO FAILURE IS FATAL EXCEPT ONE – THE FAILURE TO ACKNOWLEDGE JESUS AS SAVIOR AND TO FOLLOW HIM AS LORD!!!!
You may not have been in the belly of a big fish
....but maybe you’ve been in the belly of... Divorce, poor parenting, job, sinful spouse, horrible husband, wicked wife...
..you can start again.
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