If you have ever failed… or feel like a failure… this post is for you.

Let’s say you’re looking for someone to lead an international movement.  You need them to be THE catalyst to transcend cultures, races, political, and socio-economic situations.  The last person you would choose would be a hot-headed loose cannon who constantly made brash statements and then retract them.  You wouldn’t pick a person who was disloyal and impulsive along with a propensity toward racism.  You wouldn’t want a person who would abandon the cause when the going got tough.  They can’t drop the baton when you hand it to them.  That is exactly the person Jesus chose as the leader of His eternal movement called The Church.

The man Jesus chose had been a failure.  He was a loose cannon.  He spoke, then thought afterward.  He wasn’t a paragon of loyalty.  He was a quitter.  His name was Peter… the Apostle.  (Note: This is a follow up from a previous post… CLICK HERE)

It was after Peter regularly acted like a bull in a china shop he was selected to lead the Church in the 1st Century.  It was after Peter failed by denying Christ three times and cursing Him publicly that Jesus chose Him to guide the Early Church in its infancy.  Peter was the one Jesus picked to deliver the first message (At Pentecost) that set in motion the movement that today is called Christianity.

It was BECAUSE OF Peter’s failure that Jesus chose him!

Who else would know better what being a failure and then restored was like?  Who better would be compassionate and merciful to those who needed it most?  Who else understood redemption after a colossal mistake?  Who else was qualified because of being humbled?  Peter was the illogical choice to men… AND the right man for the job… according to Jesus.

While non of us would choose a failure to be a leader, that is consistent with God’s economy.  The first shall be last… the greatest must be your servant… to find your life you must lose it… to be great you must be the least… and the best leaders are those who have failed.

Have you failed… at something… anything… a lot of things?  That doesn’t mean God won’t use you for something important and significant for His glory!  In fact, it is because of those failures that God worked in to prepare you for His ultimate plan for your life.  After all… “If God is for you, who can be against you?”  The Christian’s life is not defined by either successes or failures.  It is defined by the fact that they are in Christ.  Everything else is secondary… including “failure.”