‘Begin the joyous tasks I have assigned to you.’ Matthew 25:21 TLB
Nicole Unice, director of women’s ministries for Hope Church, says: ‘There are ideas I know would be beneficial, yet I hesitate to share too much or dream too big. What if they don’t work? Or people don’t like them? What if the people above me second-guess hiring me? One day I scrawled on my office wall: So what if it fails? Question: What are you yearning to try and haven’t because you’re afraid you’ll fail? What programmes do you keep alive even though they aren’t serving their purpose? What technology are you avoiding? What learning are you circumventing because you feel old and rusty? If you don’t have anything on the horizon that might fail, you’re failing as a leader. Unless you push for innovation and creativity you’ll keep attracting the same people. When you “Begin the joyous tasks [God] assigned to you” you’ll have to push boundaries and try things that might fail.’ John Mason writes: ‘Don’t be afraid to fail… if you’re not failing you’re not growing. When successful people stop growing and learning, it’s because they become less willing to risk failure. Failure is delay, not defeat. A temporary detour, not a dead-end street. We all make mistakes—especially those who do things. As Paul says, “Thanks be to God who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.” (1 Corinthians 15:57 NKJV) Failure is often the first step towards success. Unless you’re willing to take a risk, you won’t get the chance to succeed.’ Today trust God and step out in faith!
SoulFood: Ex 30–32, Jn 4:13–26, Ps 100, Prov 26:27–28
The Word for Today is authored by Bob and Debby Gass and published under licence from UCB International Copyright 2023
