Failure Does Not Define You

 

Cain and Abel were two brothers who were taught on the ways of the Lord that they knew how to present offerings. Cain brought fruits and Abel brought the first born of his flock before the Lord. The Bible says in Genesis 4:4, "the Lord respected Abel and his offering, but He did not respect Cain and his offering". God is no respecter of persons and does not show partiality (Acts 10:34), so why did God respect the offering of Abel and not Cain?

Cain's countenance fell when he saw that his brother's offering was more pleasing to God than the offering he presented. Cain showed that he was not coachable and teachable because he refused to accept that he failed when his offering was not favored by God. Cain was so distraught about his offering not being accepted that it drove him to anger that he went and murdered Abel. If we think about it, he should have asked himself why was his offering not accepted. I am sure Cain was going to have opportunities to learn from this failure and present another offering to the Lord but instead he chose to open the door of sin and allowed anger, jealousy, envy and hatred in his heart which made him so blind that he acted out in violence.

For me I know I struggled with this same issue. Whenever I was told I did something wrong it would leave me furious and frustrated with myself to the point that I would start allowing negative thoughts to come in my heart telling me that I am not good enough. Instead of learning from my mistakes, I would spend hours and even days sulking and playing the victim when in the end all I needed to do was come to a place of forgiving myself and learning from this mistake so that I can try again. A friend of mine once shared this with me that if you look at your past failures and do not embrace it as part of the growing process and you still feel the shame of it then you have not really learned from your mistakes. It was not healthy to spend time allowing these negative thoughts in my heart as they were so toxic to the point that I was not giving myself the opportunity to learn and try again.

As I reflected on this story, I can understand where Cain was coming from. God gave both of them equal opportunity to present their offerings but one person sought to do what was right before the Lord and the other did not. Cain maybe presented his offering to the Lord wanting to gain favoritism but it was rejected instead. If he would have taken the time to learn from his mistake, he would have approached this rejection as a lesson and taken the opportunity try and do it right.

In life, failure is not meant to be the end of your story and it should not define you. Learn from your failures and try again because your story is still being written. Remain teachable and pray to not have a heart like Cain. God can help you change if you come to a place of repentance. I repented for the negative things I harbored in my heart from my past mistakes and have now come to a place where I can now look back and see failure as a path to my success. I have learned to forgive myself and try again. In life there are wins and loses, not everything will work out the way we would like them to but rest assured that God has the final say for your life. Do not lose hope because you are one step away from success.

Check out this song from Cory Asbury called "The Father's House". It is a song that brought me to a place to not let my failures hold me back from experiencing all that God has for me on earth. Don't let your failures define you.

Thank you for taking the time to read my blog and I pray that this is something that will help you on your journey towards deepening your relationship with God.

Until next time. God bless you and keep you safe.

Gloria Bareberaho