“Don’t Waste A Failure”
It really caught my attention the moment it was spoken. I certainly didn’t expect God to speak to me while I was watching ESPN’s coverage of the College Football Championship. But, then a sports analyst quoted the following words spoken by one of the winningest football coaches ever. Alabama’s Head Coach Nick Saban has said to his team all year “Don’t waste a failure.”
Wow! Those words are so huge and life altering when applied. We all know failure at certain levels can ruin someone if allowed. Failure can paralyze you from ever taking a huge leap of faith again. Failure can rob your confidence and steal your joy. Failure can define you or be the catalyst that refines you to be stronger than ever.
Trust me, I know what it feels like to fail. To let yourself down and many others in the process. There is no doubt that any huge level of failure brings with it grief that must be processed in time. But, in the midst of the disappointment I believe we actually learn more through failure than success.
As star running back Marcus Lattimore once said “Adversity introduces a man to himself.” You see, it’s in our lowest moments we learn what it really means to have faith in God. It’s in our moments of failure that we really learn what It really takes to succeed. Some look at failure as the end of the world. Others see failure as a lifetime lesson that teaches us things success could never do. Things like humility, hard work, resolve and endurance so that we might be more prepared for other challenges in life.
You see, satan wants our failures to haunt us the rest our lives. God wants our failures to be lessons that equip us to further succeed in life. Satan wants our failures to discourage and destroy us. God wants to use our failures to develop character and faith that can withstand any challenge ahead. So, in the powerful words of Nick Saban “Don’t waste a failure.”
“Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.”
James 1:2-4
Pastor Craig Crosby 