Dare to Fail

When I was (attempting) training for the Baltimore marathon back in late summer, I wasn't feeling very confident about the prospects of running 26.2 miles. And a very supportive (albeit, slacker) friend ask me, "why don't you just wait until next year? you're not ready yet, and besides, why bother doing a marathon?"

My response is more telling then just training for a marathon. I said something like,

"I like setting goals and aiming for something that I'm relatively sure they I can't accomplish at this moment, and don't feel confident that I'll ever accomplish." And I asked in return,

"Wouldn't you rather try and fail than never try at all? See, I want to do things that press the limits of what I'm capable of doing or have faith to believe in. I'd rather aim high and fall short, run and not finish than never run at all."

DARE TO FAIL.

What would you do if you knew you couldn't fail? Do it anyway, what's the worst that can happen? Be realistic, but dare to fail when you set goals.

What spiritual goals, giving goals, ministry goals are you setting? If they are truly faith-filled goals, they must seem impossible unless God intervenes.

Only dream and aim for goals that you're guaranteed will fail without God showing up. Then, you know you're living by faith, and relying on God. If it's humanly possible, we don't need God. Do everything humanly possible, then leave the impossibilities up to God.

This time every year, when I'm writing our church budget, I wrestle with this tension. What's prudent and what's faith? When I look back at the year's budget, I think, where was my faith? I only projected 25% or 33% growth. Only to be blown away with 40-50% growth. Then, I look ahead to the next year and think, "No way, I can't project 40% growth, better go with a more conservative 20% growth. That actually seems possible." See what I mean?

Set goals that you could actually fail in? Trust me, the sting of failure is overwhelmed by the exhilaration of triumph, faith, and daring great exploits for God.