Expensive Education
Theme of the Week: Nice Recovery!
Leighton Ford
Sunday, August 3, 2003
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Key Bible Verses: He was terrified and began to sink… . Instantly Jesus reached out his hand and grabbed him (Matthew 14:30-31). Bonus Reading:Matt. 14:22-33
Tom Watson, founder of IBM, once assigned a young executive to carry out a risky venture. Ten million dollars were spent and lost in the gamble. After it was all over, Watson called the young man into his office.
"I guess you want my resignation?" he asked.
"Resignation?" said Watson. "You can't be serious. We've just spent $10 million educating you!"
So Jesus allowed for failure because he was looking not for perfection but for faith. When Peter saw Jesus walking on the water, he wanted to try it. Jesus told him to come, but Peter gave in to fear and began to sink. Jesus caught him and said, "You of little faith. Why did you doubt?" His rebuke was meant not to cow Peter but to challenge him. Without the risk and the lesson learned from failure, Peter's faith never would have grown.
Business consultant Warren Bennis writes, "For a lot of people, the word failure carries with it a finality … but for the successful leader, failure is a beginning, the springboard of hope."
—Leighton Ford in Transforming Leadership
Adapted from Transforming Leadership (InterVarsity, 1991) by permission.
Copyright © 2003 by the author or Christianity Today International/Men of Integrity magazine.
Click here for reprint information on Men of Integrity.
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Lord, don't allow failure to paralyze me. Let me hang on to You until I experience Your deliverance.
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