When Judas, his betrayer, saw that Jesus was condemned, he repented and brought back the thirty pieces of silver… [and] departed; and he went and hanged himself. Matthew 27:3-5.

Here is a paragraph about failure from Clovis Chappell (If I Were Young):

After the miracles in Galilee there comes the solitude of the cross. After the proof of God by success, there comes the proof of God in failure; a paradoxical proof, but how much greater, in fact, and more absolute, despite its apparently relative character.

No failure need ever be final. No fall need end in tragedy. The only disaster that is without remedy is to quit trying. The difference between the one who has gone down in defeat and the other who has triumphed is not that one sometimes failed while the other never did.

The real difference is that one accepted failure as final, [believed] there was no hope, while the other dared to start again. Simon Peter’s life might haved ended as tragically as that of Judas had he not dared to start anew. The life of Judas might have ended triumphantly.

Indeed, he might have been the most amazing miracle of the New Testament had he only dared to make a new start. The most painful wound this traitor inflicted upon his Lord was not his kiss of betrayal but his failure to trust him enough to make a new start.

Lord Jesus Christ, continually remind me that the good news you preached is still good news: failure need never be final. Amen.

Rowland Croucher <
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