Failure
by David Cross
Failure means not meeting a standard, whether in appearance, ability or behavior. However, the question of success or failure in our lives is very dependent on who is setting the standard. The criteria for success are very different in God`s Kingdom as compared with those in the world. Income, appearance, celebrity, intellect, status, title, property and power are daily promoted in the media as important goals for a successful life.
Jesus stepped into the world presenting a radically different measure of success found in a divine Kingdom which could be entered now. Success in the world demands that I promote my strengths and hide my weaknesses. Success in God`s Kingdom asks that I surrender all my strengths and weaknesses to the service of the King.
One day this King met a woman at a well (John 4). She was an inferior person by all the standards of Jewish society at the time: a Samaritan, unmarried but living with a man, carrying a very dubious history of relationships and, not least, a woman rather than a man. The disciples were astonished that Jesus would spend quality time with such a person.
However, she had opened her heart to Jesus and He had shown her complete acceptance. He had explained to her, possibly more fully than with any other of His followers, some of the profound ways of His Kingdom, and in this Kingdom her truthful response to Him made her valuable and successful. As we learn the ways of Jesus, the mistakes of the past do not need to define us as a failure. A toddler only learns to walk through many falls.
Prayer: Thank You Father that You are always ready to release us from the mistakes, sins and failures of the past, which have been aggravated by the condemning hold of the enemy. Bring us anew into the security of being successful citizens in the wonderful Kingdom of Your Son. Amen.
David Cross David is part of the Executive Leadership of Ellel Ministries, with particular responsibility for the Ellel centres in Western Europe. He is married to Denise and they have three grown up children and eight grandchildren. David has been a civil engineer and ski-touring instructor in the Highlands of Scotland. He is passionate about the teaching and practice of the healing and deliverance ministry of Jesus and has written several books: Soul Ties, Trapped by Control, God’s Covering, The Dangers of Alternative Ways to Healing(co-authored with John Berry), an A to Z Guide to the Healing Ministry, What`s Wrong with Human Rights? and, most recently, God`s Way out of Depression. You can follow a daily thought from David on Twitter: @dmcross62
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