Defining our attitudes towards success and failure

UV 367/10,000 Defining our attitudes towards success and failure Ecc 7:14 In the day of prosperity be joyful, but in the day of adversity consider: God also hath set the one over against the other, to the end that man should find nothing after him. This scripture imparts the wisdom that we must value success and failure equally as while success might add to our earning, it is failure that adds more to our learning. Success and failure, strength and weakness, prosperity and adversity, joy and sadness, health and sickness, pleasure and pain, friendship and enemity are part of the pattern of life just as the warp and woof of a loom weaves a clear pattern in the fabric. The world exalts success and decries failure but in the end both of these are meaningless in itself but for the joy and happiness that it brings the one who succeeds and the glory and gratitude that he or she expresses to God and the wisdom and experience gained from failure. We should be thankful and joyful in our times of prosperity or success. Equally, we must not complain or murmur but consider why the Lord has allowed a time of adversity and pain. Instead, we must learn what lessons we can learn from the failure. Failure is God’s way of giving us feedback. Failure is certainly not final. It is meant for the testing of our faith and our strength. Both success and failure are necessary to mature us in faith, character and in fruits just as summer and winter and spring are needed to mature a plant and ripen its crop. Rudyard Kipling’s precept to treat both failure and triumph as “ imposters” to which we should be equally indifferent is neither godly advice nor is it natural. Instead,we must be diligent in our faith by reviewing in our minds the promise we claimed for success in any venture a thousand times and patient in our expectation that the Lord will crown our efforts with success in due time. Sometimes adversity is allowed by the Lord in our lives to correct our sense of priorities or to change the direction of our lives. The Psalmist wrote, “ It is good that I was afflicted that I might learn His holy will.” It might be to teach us His will and purpose for our lives. It could be to draw us closer to Him. Once soon after I was injured in the assassination at Sriperumbudur, I was down again with typhoid. I was broken and disheartened. I told the Lord, “ I am making a covenant with You, Lord. Hereafter, if you want to teach me anything, please give me a gentle tap and I will listen and obey whatever You want of me.” After that , even if my foot hits a stone, I will sit down and check if there is something the Lord wants me to know, something He wants me to correct in my life. He has, of course kept His part of the spiritual pact we made that day. Prateep V Philip