The people who never succeed are those who are afraid to fail.

You have to be willing to fail–and therefore to learn–if you are going to be a success. You will never learn to do anything if you are unwilling to fail.

Think about riding a bike, hitting a baseball, or finding friends. Until you fail, you can’t succeed.

Recently, I read about one of the greatest hitters in baseball history. His name is Tony Gwynn of the San Diego Padres. In 1999 he reached two milestones. On the day he became only the 21st player in major league history to record 3,000 hits, he also recorded his 5113th out.

It was the same for some of the household names in baseball history. People like Babe Ruth and Mickey Mantle experienced a lot of failure in order to also experience a lot of success.

People who want to succeed have to keep on swinging.

Where are you right now? Is your spiritual life–your relationship with God–what it ought to be?

Many people simply give up living for God because they say they can’t do what God wants them to do. In order to play baseball or live for God, you have to be willing to start over and keep trying when you have failed.

Wouldn’t this be a good day to start over? Wouldn’t this be a day to get back up and begin again?

Think about two of the best known people in the Bible. Both failed by making incredibly poor decisions. One got back up and the other didn’t.

Simon Peter went on to become one of the leaders of the early church; Judas refused to repent and went down in history as the one who betrayed Jesus.

Since we all fail, we all have to make that kind of decision.

What will it be for you?

You can receive my daily devotions by subscribing at the top of the page. It’s easy to do and completely free.