Stewarding Our Failures, Robust Dividends

When one invests his money wisely he ends up with more money. When one invests ones failures wisely he ends up with fewer failures. We don’t tend, however, to look at our failures as assets. We see them as burdens, losses. Jesus, for every one of our failures, has paid the debt earned by them. We cannot erase them from our ledger by our successes, as every success of ours is tainted with more failure. They can, however, by the grace of God not only be removed from our debit column, but added to our asset column.

All it takes is for us to not only believe our failures have been forgiven, but to believe the promise of the One who paid our debts, that all things work together for good for those who love the Lord, who have been called according to His purpose (Romans 8:28). Not all successes. All things, which must include failures.

What then are some Failure Funds that have shown long term growth and robust returns?
Start here- the Repentance Fund. Here our failures first become successes because they lead us to repentance. And forgiveness. We use our failures well when we run to the Father rather than away. When our first parents first sinned they ran from the Father. When we are His we run to Him. Repentance brings us closer to the glory of Eden, not just because we are no longer unclean, but because we are both able and eager to draw near.

Then there is the Brethren Fund. This is one Jesus encouraged Peter to take, even as He predicted that Peter’s stock would plummet before the rooster crowed. He said both that Peter would betray Him three times, but said, “When you have returned to Me, strengthen the brethren” (Luke 22: 32). How often do we, in sympathy with the devil, determine that a man’s betrayal of the Lord is the end of his service? Jesus says it is a reason for his service. We want to distance ourselves from the disgraced; Jesus commands that we learn from them.

There is also the Eye Opening Fund. One of the most important ways of stewarding our failures is using them to remember what failures we are. Jesus, we remember, told us, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance” (Mark 2:17). Too often we in the church fall prey to the temptation of thinking we’re doing pretty well. We need Jesus, of course, because no one is perfect. But, we don’t need Him much. Failure, for all its failure-ness, topples that lie post-haste.

We shouldn’t forget either the Compassion Fund. Our failures are stewarded well when they keep us from looking down our noses at others. Our failures bear grace-toward-others dividends that you can take to the bank. We keep our failures before us, not to beat ourselves up but to lift others up, to keep them from being beat down. This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners of whom I am chief” (I Timothy 1:15).

Invest wisely. Invest boldly. Steward your failures. Because Jesus changes everything.