Most people like the return to Standard Time (first Sunday in November) because they get back an hour of sleep lost when Daylight Saving Time started (back in March). There’s a little saying that helps one remember which way to set his clock when the time changes: Spring forward and fall back.
There’s another saying that deserves to be better known: Whenever you fall, try to fall forward. Don’t give up and quit just because you’ve failed or made a mistake. Learn from it. Get up and try again, and keep on going in the right direction. You are not a failure as long as you get up one more time than you fall down.
Look at some Bible examples. One might think Moses would have been justified had he given up. He had a really bad crime (murder) on his record. He had a physical handicap (slow of speech), a lack of patience and a bad temper. But he didn’t give up. The people might never have got out of Egypt if Moses had quit. Joshua might have said, “We failed to enter the promised land once, and we’ve wandered around for 40 years. I quit!” But he didn’t. Think of what could have happened had he done so. Joseph could have been forgiven for quitting, or for trying to even the score with those who had hurt him. Mean brothers sold him into slavery and lied to his father – nearly broke the old man’s heart. His boss’s wife lied about him when he tried to stay straight and honorable, and had him thrown in jail. A fellow prisoner forgot to mention him when he got out, and that increased Joseph’s time in prison. When he rose above all that and his brothers came to get help Joseph kept right on helping. Many are glad he did. Daniel, after being enslaved and having been tossed into a den of lions, might have said, “I think everyone’s against me. The king is trying to kill me. They don’t even want me to pray! I give up. I quit.” But he didn’t. Do you dare to be a Daniel? David could have given up after passion, selfishness, and pride got him involved in adultery and murder. The one who had once been a man after God’s own heart ended up on God’s hit list. But he took his lumps, returned to the Lord and became Israel’s greatest king, in the line that produced the Christ. Peter might have thought, “After what I’ve said and done, what’s the use? Count me out. I quit!” But he didn’t. The cause of Christ is surely blessed and enhanced because Peter stayed with it. Paul, a one-time blasphemer of Christ and murderer of Christians, could have said, “I can’t undo what I’ve done – I don’t deserve to be saved by Christ. I can’t accept a second chance from God.” Instead he accepted defeat at the hand of Christ and gave himself fully to him as Lord. His suffering at the hands of jealous enemies was second only to that of Jesus himself. Paul became, in many ways, the greatest and most productive of all apostles – probably second only to Jesus himself in Christianity.
No. These men did not quit. Failure was only a part of the process. Hard knocks from others were often not deserved, but failure and mistreatment taught them lessons that can only be learned the hard way, from experience. But it meant they knew something they would not have known otherwise. Their lives are proof that defeat, failure, and mistreatment can help one to fall forward – maybe we can say to fail forward – to fall in the direction God wants us to go, to fall facing toward success and still determined to reach it.
I appreciate Galatians 6:9."In due time we shall reap if we do not faint." Eventually we will win if we do not give up. It teaches that each of us must keep on doing what is right and good, both for ourselves and others. In due time we will have the reward of well-doing – if we do not give up and quit.
- Gerald Cowan preaches for the Dongola Church of Christ in Dongola, IL. He may be contacted at Geraldcowan1931@aol.com
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