Have you ever failed at something?  OK – that is a silly question because we know that everyone fails at some point.  I suppose that I should ask what you did after failing.

Nobody wants to fail, and nobody likes failing.  However, if you look back, you can see that failure offers you an opportunity to learn in ways that can lead to greater things – if you choose to learn from and not ignore the lessons.

Mark (who penned the Gospel of Mark) is a lesson in dealing with failure.  When he was young, he joined Paul and Barnabas on a missionary journey, but he realized that he could not handle the pressure of it.  Mark quit and went home – feeling like a failure.

Barnabas wanted to give him another chance, but Paul did not think he was ready.  So Barnabas took Mark on a new mission trip; Paul took Silas on another mission trip (and even met Timothy on the trip).  Barnabas encouraged, mentored, and helped Mark.  He knew that God had not given up on Mark, so he was not going to give up either.  After a while Peter came along and asked Mark to join him; they formed a strong bond that led Peter to call him (in 1 Peter 5:13), “Mark, my son”

Peter knew what it was like to fail Jesus (remember his three denials of Jesus on the night before the cross), but he had been given a new beginning.  Therefore, Peter poured into Mark, and Mark grew in his faith and ministry in powerful ways.

Those changes would not have happened if Mark had not been given another opportunity.  Also, Paul saw the changes in Mark and began to trust him in amazing ways.  He even told Timothy (in 2 Timothy 4:11), “Bring Mark with you, for he is useful to me in the ministry.”

Failure hurts, but failure does not have to keep us down.  God is bigger than our failures, and He can work through them.  When we surrender our hurt to God, He supplies us with the hope we need.  But we must trust Him.  We must keep moving forward.  We must allow Him to do what we cannot (or maybe could not) do on our own.

Let God change your future.

Consider checking out Erwin Lutzer’s book on this…