Why Failure Is The Best Teacher

Why do we learn more from our failures than from our successes?

1000 Failures

There are a select few men and women in history that didn’t allow failure to be final. Instead of failure being a period, they made it a comma by pressing forward. One such man was the remarkable Thomas A. Edison. If anyone knew about failure, it was him, but those failures didn’t defeat the man, but drove the man to find new ways to make things work (whatever they might be, and there were many!). Mr. Edison would rebuff one negative comment after another, once saying, “I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.” That perseverance eventually led to the phonograph, motion picture cameras, and a practical electric lightbulb that would eventually light the cities of America…and the world. Even without Edison, someone else would have eventually come up with these ideas, but probably not all his inventions, and probably not as many as he had, largely in part to Edison’s perseverance.

Failure Leads to Success

Failure can be final or failure can be the launching pad to success. Failure can be a period or it can be a comma. It is up to you what you do with failure. If inventors were quick to give up after failure, half the inventions we have today would’ve come later, having been invented by someone else, but repeated failure does not deter the determined person because they know that failures can lead to eventual success…if, that is, they persevere. There is no chance for success when someone quits. Christ followers know that even “though he fall, he shall not be cast headlong, for the LORD upholds his hand” (Psalm 37:24). That’s because “The LORD upholds all who are falling and raises up all who are bowed down” (Psalm 145:14), as “The LORD lifts up those who are bowed down; the LORD loves the righteous” (Psalm 146:8).

Success Leads to Failure

One thing that I’ve noticed is that there are times when someone has reached a point of great success, but then that success begins to go to their head, and what was once a person striving for success is someone coasting on what’s been done, but when that happens, pride can kick in, and pride can be the cause of a fall. Pride is invisible. It can sneak up on you unknowingly. That’s why the Bible teaches that “Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall” (Prov 16:18), so pride precedes a fall, almost as if it causes the fall, so just as failure can lead to success, success can lead to failure.

Whoever humbles himself will be exalted.

Success can easily become a source of self-pride, and pride has a way of distorting our self-worth. We can believe we’re more important than we actually are because of what we’ve done, but God resists the proud and only extends His grace to the humble (James 4:6), so success can lead to pride, pride can lead to an overestimation of a person’s worth, and this overestimation of a person’s worth causes them to be lifted up with pride, but the higher someone thinks they are above others, the farther they can fall, so “When pride comes, then comes disgrace, but with the humble is wisdom” (Prov 11:1). This is based upon Jesus’ teaching where He said, “Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted” (Matt 23:12).

Failure is not Final

When the Vietnam War was in its waning years, and just before the draft was ended, I was going to enlist because it appeared I’d be drafted anyway. My draft status was 1-A, and I was told I would be next, so I went down to the Navy and tried to enlist. I passed all the requirements and even the vision test…until I took the test for colorblindness. When I got to that part, I failed, and my desire to be a naval electronics technician was ended. Can you image me in a rocket silo or on a nuclear submarine, and they tell me to push a button of a certain color? Naturally, you can see why it wouldn’t work. The Navy wanted to reassign me but I told them I was going to try to enlist in the Army, but by the time I was going to enlist, the announcement was made that the U.S. was going to withdraw from Vietnam and the draft had ended. What if I had not been colorblind and had been sent to Vietnam and then the Tet Offensive exploded near the end of the war? What appeared to be failure in joining the Navy may well have kept me out of the Vietnam War…perhaps even saving my life. Who knows?

Conclusion

I can’t think of anyone that hasn’t failed at least at something. The only exception is Jesus Christ who failed at nothing, including living a sinless life and giving His life as a ransom for many (Mark 10:45). When Jesus died on the cross, it appeared that He had failed His mission, and the disciples thought it was over too, but what was an apparent defeat was the ultimate victory…victory over sin, victory over this world, and victory over death. Jesus conquered the grave because He was sinless, and because He was sinless, the grave couldn’t hold Him (Acts 2:24). “God raised him on the third day and made him to appear not to all the people but to us who had been chosen by God as witnesses, who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead” (Acts 10:40-41). After Jesus death on the cross, the disciples were disillusioned, at least until they saw Jesus in the flesh, and Jesus told the doubting Thomas, “See my hands and my feet, that it is I myself. Touch me, and see. For a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have” (Luke 24:39). This is why the angel told the women, “He is not here, for he has risen, as he said. Come, see the place where he lay” (Matt 28:6).

Article by Jack Wellman

Jack Wellman is Pastor of the Mulvane Brethren Church in Mulvane Kansas. Jack is a writer at Christian Quotes and also the Senior Writer at What Christians Want To Know whose mission is to equip, encourage, and energize Christians and to address questions about the believer’s daily walk with God and the Bible. You can follow Jack on Google Plus or check out his book Teaching Children the Gospel available on Amazon.