What God Requires

What God Requires

Acts 26:24-29

            You’ve probably seen people—usually young athletes—wearing T-shirts with the message, “Failure is not an option,” or some such words.  One I remember says, “We didn’t lose.  We just ran out of time.”

            Strong words indeed, and fine sentiments, especially if you want to inspire someone to persevere when the situation looks hopeless.  However, we know that in real life failure is not only an option, but a result that is sure to occur.  Those of us who have lived a while have known many failures.

            Recently I ran into several quotes on failure—in fact, they inspired me to write this.  Here are a few of them.

            Robert F. Kennedy said, “Only those who dare to fail greatly can ever achieve greatly.”  True words, and worth remembering.  If we’re afraid to fail, we’ll wind up afraid to do anything.  Like the man who was given the one talent in Jesus’ parable, we’ll hide our abilities away, never failing, but never accomplishing anything of value. 

            Failure is part of the learning process.  We can’t grow unless we venture out, away from the shallows of our meager successes and explore the deep waters of the unknown.  Perhaps Thomas Edison said it best: “I have not failed.  I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.”  This may sound like the “We didn’t lose” T-shirt, but it isn’t.  It’s an optimistic way of looking at the learning process.  Edison is correct.  Every unsuccessful way he tried to make any of his marvelous inventions work added to his store of knowledge.  And who knows:  perhaps one of the ways that didn’t work for one invention led to the success of another invention!

            Along the same lines is the (unknown) person who said, “The only way to avoid mistakes is to gain experience; the only way to gain experience is to make mistakes.”  Sounds as of this person was working in Edison’s lab—or should have been.

            I’m sure Paul must have made quite a few mistakes in his ministry.  Every minister I know has made at least a few—some (me included) have made more than a few.  When we read the book of Acts we see/hear about Paul’s many successes, but we also find a few times when his message wasn’t received.  Perhaps he used the wrong words, or those hearing him weren’t ready to receive the gospel.  After all, the only perfect teacher in history is Jesus.  All the rest of us who preach and teach fall short of that mark.

            Today’s Scripture reading is the conclusion of a longer story.  Paul is being held in a sort of protective custody where his enemies can’t get to him, although he does have some freedom of movement.  Two successive Roman governors have heard him speak and been moved by his testimony.  They have not accepted his message, but they are unwilling to send him to Rome for judgment by Caesar, perhaps because they know the decision will go against him.

            Finally, after some years, King Agrippa arrives and Paul appears before him.  As eloquently as he knows how, Paul tells his story, presenting the gospel to Agrippa.  When he is finished, Agrippa says, “Paul, almost you persuade me to become a Christian.”  Almost—but not quite.

            Paul’s failure?  Perhaps.  We never learn the rest of Agrippa’s story, so we don’t know for sure.  What we do know is what Cheryl Jones Gage said: “God doesn’t expect us to be successful, but He does expect us to be faithful.”  Faithful service is something we all can do.

            Even in the face of failure Paul was faithful.  Are we?