It seems that for anyone and everyone, failure is inevitable. We can do our best to avoid it and strive to achieve success but we will all fail at some point and multiple times even. Failure is inevitable, but it undeniably hurts. The sting of failure can be disabling, even traumatising to some. But God has provided a way to stand strong even in the midst of failure and that is by finding joy in our salvation.
Do you remember the first time you received Jesus into your heart and received salvation through Him? If you do, then you must also recall how much of a joy it was and how empowered you felt. There is good news, that experience of receiving salvation through Jesus Christ doesn't have to be a one time experience. In fact, it shouldn't be.
Salvation is something that we walk in, not something we buy into. We don't experience the joy of salvation once in a lifetime. It is something that we can experience always and that we should because it is through that joy that we find strength in times that we may experience failure.
Just as Habakuk 3:17-18 declares, "Though the fig tree should not blossom, nor fruit be on the vines, the produce of the olive fail and the fields yield no food, the flock be cut off from the fold and there be no herd in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the Lord; I will take joy in the God of my salvation." Even in hard times and in extreme failure, the truth of salvation found through Jesus Christ can and will give us hope.
Whatever that failure may be - may it be in your career, relationships, morals, or ministry - it's nothing compared to the ultimate success and victory that we now have over sin and death through the blood of Jesus Christ. And if God can bring victory over sin and death what's to stop Him from conquering the sting of earthly failure?
When we know the hope we have in Christ both in this lifetime and in the age to come, we can look at our biggest failures and say, "I remember the joy I have in Christ because He has saved me and that surpasses the frustration and dismay of this failure." God's overwhelming and overcoming love that saves can and will lift us up if we simply focus on that instead of the failures that we face.
The joy of our salvation in Jesus reminds us that we will ultimately come out victorious in the end despite all the setbacks and failures we may encounter from day to day. There is hope in Jesus Christ and it's greater than any mistake, sin, failure or trial.
