If I Failed ...
If I failed as a boy … told a lie to avoid consequences, acted selfishly, didn’t always respect my parents … it’s OK.
If I failed as a student … not taking school seriously, acting out, maybe I cheated a few times … it’s OK.
If I failed as a friend … not being there consistently or checking in to see how you were doing … it’s OK.
If I failed as a teammate … not giving my all to help the team succeed, slacking off during conditioning, being an individual … it’s OK.
If I failed as a brother … being an immature brat, failing to show respect, fighting over trivial things, always trying to be right … it’s OK.
If I failed as a son … not visiting or calling enough in your twilight years, being too busy to show you were still important to me … it’s OK.
If I failed as a husband … being moody instead of supportive, lashing out instead of seeking peace, losing sight of your needs because of focusing on my own … it’s OK.
If I failed as a dad … not teaching the most important things when you were younger, too often displaying quickness to anger, failing miserably to set a good example … it’s OK.
If I failed as an employee … not doing my very best, cutting corners, taking advantage of perks … it’s OK.
If I failed as a teacher … reacting too quickly and harshly to poor behavior, falling short of sharing teachable moments … it’s OK.
If I failed as a coach … putting winning too high on the list, yelling too loudly at players and officials … it’s OK.
If I failed as a writer … rushing through stories and not giving each one the time it deserved, leaning too much on myself instead of the Lord … it’s OK.
If I failed as a church attendee … sometimes being a Sunday morning Christian, letting my mind wander during worship services, focusing on the things of Earth … it’s OK.
If I failed as a man … being too busy, emphasizing things that should have been secondary like sports, waiting too long in life to get serious about Bible study … it’s OK.
But … take away the word “if” from those statements. We can only hide our mistakes from others, but the Lord sees the heart. Can we still keep “it’s OK” at the end of each one?
The answer is: Yes. But there’s context.
None of those things pleases the Lord. They show a lack of spiritual maturity, or simply put, sin. We must repent, striving every day to avoid repeating even the lesser sins.
However, in the long run, no matter how bad it feels to fail in the important areas of life, it’s OK when considering the context — which comes from the one area where it’s not OK to fail.
If I failed … in any way and at any time, where I didn’t point people — loved ones, acquaintances, whomever — toward the truth, life, and the way … that’s the main thing that’s not OK.
Every way that we fail can cause an abundance of hurt, tears, and pain. We can be consumed with regret. Still, there is forgiveness for every mistake listed above — and many more.
But if we don’t point people toward the love of Jesus Christ, it’s truly the only thing that won’t be OK.
Because if I can share the light of the Gospel even as I stand beside the mountain of my mistakes, I can say to that mountain, “Be taken up and thrown into the sea.” And it will be done.
And since the mountain of my mistakes will be thrown into the sea, they will not follow me to heaven. Because the sea will be no more.
Revelation 21:1
“Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more.”
Brother, sister, turn away from every mistake. Follow Jesus. Today. Right this second. Confess with your mouth and believe in your heart. Don’t look back. Cast your burdens on Jesus. And have life everlasting in fellowship with him.
