BBD 03.16.04 Avoiding Failure
Posted by: wrather <wrather@...>
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03.16.04
Avoiding Failure
Peter answered and said to Him, "Even if all are made to stumble because of
You, I will never be made to stumble." Jesus said to him, "Assuredly, I say
to you that this night, before the rooster crows, you will deny Me three
times." Peter said to Him, "Even if I have to die with You, I will not deny
You!" And so said all the disciples. - Matthew 26:33-35.
Now Peter sat outside in the courtyard. And a servant girl came to him,
saying, "You also were with Jesus of Galilee." But he denied it before them
all, saying, "I do not know what you are saying." And when he had gone out
to the gateway, another girl saw him and said to those who were there, "This
fellow also was with Jesus of Nazareth." But again he denied with an oath,
"I do not know the Man!" And a little later those who stood by came up and
said to Peter, "Surely you also are one of them, for your speech betrays
you." Then he began to curse and swear, saying, "I do not know the Man!"
Immediately a rooster crowed. And Peter remembered the word of Jesus who had
said to him, "Before the rooster crows, you will deny Me three times." So he
went out and wept bitterly. - Matthew 26:69-75.
Robbie Peden recently KO’d Nate Campbell in the fifth round and will as a
result have a title fight against IBF champion, Carlos Hernandez. Robbie
says about his boxing match with Campbell, "I must admit Nate was much
stronger than I thought he was going to be. This guy is very strong and not
only that, but he can box too. I think initially I may have underestimated
him, but I am the type of fighter who will never quit. It doesn't matter
what my opponent brings I can adapt to it." Actually, Nate Campbell by most
accounts of the match was the superior boxer and only lost because of his
arrogance and over-confidence. Campbell apparently played with his opponent
until the fifth round when he stuck out his chin and dared Peden to hit it.
Peden gladly obliged and knocked Campbell out winning the fight. Campbell
speaks about his failure by saying, “The name of this story should be
ignorance, arrogance and stupidity because that’s exactly what I showed in
that fifth round; ignorance, arrogance and stupidity. I had this guy ready
to go, and I walked right to him put my hands down, my chin out, and said,
‘hit me, hit me.’ I deserved to lose, and any other fighter who pulls a
stunt like that deserves to lose also. I know better than that, and now I’m
going to have to live with this mistake for the rest of my life.”
Having an attitude of over-confidence in your own spiritual ability is
setting yourself up for failure. You may not be quite as arrogant about it
as Nate Campbell was in his boxing ability but you may be just as
over-confident as Peter and the other disciples. Over-confidence was at the
very heart of the failure of Peter and his fellow disciples. None of them
believed it was possible for them to fail in their obedience to Jesus. Peter
said, "Even if I have to die with You, I will not deny You!" But it wasn’t
just Peter because the final phrase of the verse records, “And so said all
the disciples.”
To some extent, it appears that those who are least likely to fail
spiritually are the very ones that do. How many pastors, youth ministers,
missionaries and others called of God have fallen bringing shame to the
cause of Christ? Too many! It may be that the cause of their failures was
their over-confidence. They like Peter and the other disciples said, “It can
never happen to me!” As the old saying goes, “The bigger they are the harder
they fall.” Believing moral failure is never a possibility in your life sets
you up for the failure. It’s like saying to the devil, “hit me, hit me.” He
will not pass up the opportunity!
To fight spiritual failure we must remember that it is surely in the realm
of possibility for us to fail. We must always be alert to those situations
and conditions that might lead to failure and avoid them knowing our
weaknesses.
Copyright © 2004. Ed Wrather. Permission is given for use of the devotionals
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