A Successful Failure
Every year on January 1, millions of people make New Year’s resolutions. In fact, the top ten resolutions this year are as follows: (1), Lose Weight, (2) Getting Organized, (3) Spend Less, Save More, (4) Enjoy Life to the Fullest, (5) Staying Fit and Healthy, (6) Learn Something Exciting, (7) Quite Smoking, (8) Help Others in Their Dreams, (9) Fall in Love, and (10) Spend More Time with Family.
None of these resolutions are bad or destructive; in fact, they are quite uplifting and positive, but I wonder how many people actually keep their resolutions or even keep the list somewhere visible beyond the first few months of the New Year.
I’ve had many resolutions in the past that have seemed achievable and somehow by the next Christmas I still felt like I didn’t get anywhere close to checking off my list of goals. This lack of achievement would sometimes send me into a tailspin of moping and feeling defeated about the things I did not accomplish or do. Remembering all these past years of not fulfilling my resolutions made me not want to write a list at all this year. Why should I write a list of goals that I know won’t be fulfilled and will only make me feel worse about myself?
I read Matthew chapter one in the Bible this morning and was reminded of the greatest list of failures that God used for a greater goal. Matthew decided to begin his account of Jesus’ life with a list of the ancestors in Jesus’ lineage because he was mainly writing to a Jewish audience who did not believe Jesus was the Messiah. Matthew began with Abraham and listed every man in the lineage leading up to Jesus’ birth. There are fourteen generations from Abraham to David, fourteen from David to the Babylonian exile, and fourteen from the Babylonian exile to the Messiah (Matt.1:17). Within those names listed, there are five women mentioned: Tamar, Rahab, Ruth, Bathsheba, and Mary. Women were usually never mentioned in historical accounts because they were believed to be second-class citizens compared to men, but Matthew included these women in the lineage for a great reason. They each were part of a terrible scandal and looked down upon for their background or behavior, yet God chose these women who had failed in the eyes of society to be part of the most successful plan of all time! He didn’t look at their track records or perfect reputations to include them in the advancement of His Seed. He saw their beautiful, repentant hearts and that’s all that mattered to Him.
Reading about these five women gave me hope—hope in something much greater than my past failures, my tarnished reputation and myself. God reminded me that I don’t need to have the best education, the best pedigree or accolades to be used for His great plan. In fact, He specializes in using the greatest failures for His greatest successes. All He asks is for us to come humbly before Him with a repentant heart seeking His help in all circumstances. He wants to help us and wants to be the Author of our amazing story. Let Him be and see how He uses your lineage to pass down the story of His Son.
“So be strong and courageous! Do not be afraid and do not panic before them. For the Lord your God will personally go ahead of you. He will neither fail you nor abandon you” (Deut.31:6 NLT). God will never abandon us when we ask for His help, even in overcoming our fears and our failures. Our greatest failures can be transformed into God’s greatest successes. How will He use your failures this year to transform lives around you?
