“For when I am weak, then I am strong” (2 Corinthians 12:10b, NLT).
You may know a little about Thomas Edison. He was a great inventor who lived about a hundred years ago. He invented the electric light bulb, the record player, motion pictures, and about a bazillion other things (actually, the number was 1,093 patented inventions). One of the things he worked long and hard at inventing was a new type of battery. He tried different chemicals and metals and designs, changing one thing for one test and one thing for another experiment. Some worked better and some worked worse, but for a long time he was unable to come up with exactly what he was looking for. A friend once came to see Edison when he was working on the battery. Edison remarked that after ten thousand experiments he was still not satisfied. The person was astonished. “What?” his friend said, astonished. “Ten thousand failures?” “Why, I have not failed,” Edison responded. “I’ve just found ten thousand ways that won't work.” Edison’s friend made the mistake of confusing an unfinished experiment with a failure. But Edison knew better. We make a similar mistake sometimes when we confuse failures and sins.
God doesn’t expect us to go through life without failing. He knows we’re going to try--and fail--many times (maybe even ten thousand times!). You may have failed the first ten times you tried to ride a bike without training wheels; but you didn’t give up, did you? But God doesn’t mind when we fail, unless our failures are also sins. You see, a sin is a choice to do something our own way rather than God’s way. A sin is failing to do right when we know what’s right. A sin is failing to obey God. So don’t be afraid to fail. All of us do it. Some of us have even failed ten thousand times! Just make sure to choose God’s way--the right way--instead of your own way, and he will turn even your failures into something good!
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