Failure is not innate with humans

Human beings are different from the physical universe. Only the earthly projects are associated with failure, as embodied in the physical universe and not destined for eternity. This is different from the spiritually designed projects, for those appreciating being God’s children. The bottom line is that there is nothing to stop or causing God’s children to fail in their endeavors.

The planet earth represents death, which is the ultimate failure of all living organisms, except God’s children. A human being is not part of this world. Therefore, it is an error of all time, for humans to equate themselves with the physical universe. As God’s children, humans were Heavenly designed.

While failure was never intended for humans, failure is associated with humans, as long as they behave like other species of this world. The only cause of failure among humans is ignorance of their identity, knowledge of which is the starting point in handling all problems. Jesus is embraced by many, but very little is understood of Him.

“Because you have so little faith. Truly I tell you, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.” (Matthew 17:20-21).

Jesus’s statement suggests that all failures are caused by lacking faith. But what kind of faith was Jesus talking about? Apparently, this is different from the idea of trusting Jesus to solve one’s own problems. Hence, Jesus castigated His disciples for waking Him up to calm the raging seawaters:

Then he got into the boat and his disciples followed him. Suddenly a furious storm came up on the lake so that the waves swept over the boat. But Jesus was sleeping. The disciples went and woke him, saying, “Lord, save us! We’re going to drown!” He replied, “You of little faith, why are you so afraid?” Then he got up and rebuked the winds and the waves, and it was completely calm (Matthew 8:23-26) (NIV).

This type of faith implies appreciating one’s own identity, as God’s child. When not appreciating being God’s child, certainly, the result is lacking faith. Jesus used this fundamental principle when establishing His church. Without this datum, those claiming to represent His church are fake (Matthew 16:16-18).

Jesus said flesh and blood could not reveal that truth. It is doubtful that Theological seminaries and colleges can possibly reveal it. Of course, Peter was commended for identifying Jesus as the Son of the living God. But Jesus represented all God’s children.

The establishment of His Church was meant to distinguish God’s children from everyone else. The sons of the living God are not limited by physical things, just as their Father is not limited by physical things. Unbelievable, as this might seem, to some people, this information is understood by a limited number of people.

In this life, we have physical limitations, which have nothing to do with God’s Children. God is not limited by anything. Therefore, His own Children cannot be limited by anything. Any limitation that one may assume to experience, would be a matter of deciding to be impeded by such a limitation.

Two men, with identical conditions and circumstances, may equally desire traveling to Cape Town. The first one coming up with good and plausible reasons, suggesting the impossibility of traveling without adequate funding.

That person would be regarded as a pragmatist, resigning to the reality of the impossibility of traveling to Cape Town without funding. His travel desires, eventually, being abandoned and forgotten about.

However, his friend would condition himself to travel to Cape Town, buoyed by the spirit of none-failure. His travel arrangements may take several months or even years, but subsequently, arriving in Cape Town, as postulated.

This is typical of every successful project in this world. People are successful, not because of physical abilities, but because of spiritual determination. The spirit is inconsiderate of the time factor.

One could embark on projects, achievable by others, after his demise. The spiritual people’s dreams live on, as taken over by next generations. What dies is physical, not necessarily the spiritually inspired dreams.

The saying; “Where there is a will there is a way” affirms this reality. Successful people are successful, not as a result of physical impetus, but as a result of spiritually driven impetus. This is true of any success story. What spurred the likes of Thomas Edison and other inventors of gigantic scale, did not come from the physical universe, but was spiritually driven.

While credited, to some degree, education carries little role, in what one could achieve, from his own imaginations. Education is too junior to God’s children. Many things of larger scale, remain unrealized, due to succumbing to failure. As resulting from lack of faith, many people succumb to failure, unnecessarily.

A human being finds himself in a condition of incapacitation, due to lacking faith, which, itself, is caused by ignorance of one’s identity. This is illustrated in the parable of the Prodigal Son—entrapped in conditions, equating him with pigs—yet coming from a wealthy family. Only after realizing that his misery was self-imposed, was the prodigal son’s dignity restored.

He had wandered off, but his father still loved him. Initially, he did not envisage that his father would welcome him, unconditionally. Hence, he had coined an idea, seeking to be treated like servants, rather than like a son. But his father acted differently, thereby, giving him a hero’s welcome.

With all our failings, as humans, our stories are not different from that of the prodigal son. We wonder whether God could accept us in our sinful conditions. The prodigal son could have decided to die in the wilderness, without ever reconciling with his father.

Nevertheless, he committed himself towards his forgiving father, whose love was a contrast of his alien employer. Due to his father’s love, he received more than he bargained for. When entertaining the idea of failure, one resigns to despair.

The Prodigal son parable can serve to open up communication with one’s creator. God is willing to accept anyone, as His son, unconditionally. All experienced failures, in this life, are a manifestation of ignorance of one’s identity as God’s child.

All failures are, therefore, caused by a disconnection from one’s Creator. Just as God holds no limitation, human beings are unlimited by anything associated with the physical universe. There is no need to doubt that reality, as doubting is a result of lacking faith.

Most of those existing in this world, live for a purpose, for which they are not even aware. As long as engrossed in material things of this world, it is difficult to disentangle oneself from failure. Others remain unaware of God’s existence, up to the point of their death. And yet others assume that it is impossible for God to forgive them, for sins committed.

Humans cannot be limited by physical things, as they are too superior, to even imagine that physical things could limit their endeavors. This is against the background that humans are generally associated with failures, in this world. One way or the other, the person may initiate projects that get interpreted as failure.

However, in the language of those regarding themselves as God’s children, failures are opportunities to learn better ways of handling problems. In his light bulb invention escapade, Thomas Edison eventually came up with the most appropriate electronic formula. His several time failures showed him various ways of how not to pursue ideas leading to failure.

After having achieved the workable results, there was no need to dwell on past failures. That single success story remained as important, as still applicable, even in our time. The story of Thomas Edison highlights what a human being can achieve when spiritually guided, rather than when focusing on physical limitations.

There is no need for despair when confronting the material universe. Such tenacity can only be possible when appreciating being God’s child. One can confront any situation and overcome any obstacle, when clear of being God’s child. This is what Jesus was talking about when asserting that with faith as little as mustard seed nothing would be impossible.

Failure is driven by three components; fear, shame, and pride. These three are extremely inimical to God’s children. It is impossible for cowards to embark on anything not approved by others, in this world. The cowards get easily convinced by others that whatever they would be engaged in, would not succeed.

The only rebuttal, against their prophets of doom, is asserting being God’s child. But this ought to be uttered by those sincerely assured of being God’s children. This is where faith comes in, as there cannot be fear in faith. Many workable projects become abandoned, due to discouragements coming from those assuming to be friendly, but opposed to one’s adventurous programs.

Such ill-advisors tend to be expressing their loving concern for the adventurous individual. But their aim would be scaring the adventurer from ever daring to do the impossible. Those dissuaders could be warmly viewed as concerned with the person’s welfare. Like sheep, humans are not comfortable being separated from their own.

The cowards want to belong to a group, within which they feel comfortable, even without provable protection by such sheepish groupings. If truly friendly, those apparent friendly people ought to support one’s adventurous ideas.

Many people are known to abandon good projects, to avoid possible shame, resulting from the effects of failure. In my adult life, I have observed this manifestation among children. At our church, young children, with their infantile voices, are willing to give special music in front of congregants.

However, as soon as they become adults, they avoid singing, altogether, aware of the effects of singing discordantly. They seek to protect their reputation, rather than to be associated with singing badly. Nevertheless, the tenacious ones, disregarding bad comments from the audience, would be poised to become professionals, in singing.

Even with their beautiful musical voices, those focusing on shame, prefer associating with other failed musicians. This may not be a cardinal example, but it serves to illustrate the point that many would-be professionals quit, due to the inability to confront shame. The term, “once beaten, twice shy” identifies well with such characters. Although this does not apply to true professionals.

In this life, people are judged by success or failure. The cause of envy is a result of seeking admiration from ordinary people. One feels uncomfortable, having been classified as a failure. But, human beings were never created to be failures. Each human being holds what could be peculiar to one’s own individuality.

The fact that some people may not identify with one’s calling, should not create a feeling of discomfort. Cultural societies are largely responsible for causing such problems. One can easily get ostracized for doing what has not been achieved in one’s particular grouping. Hence, Jesus was rejected by His own clansmen:

“Isn’t this the carpenter? Isn’t this Mary’s son and the brother of James, Joseph, Judas, and Simon? Aren’t his sisters here with us?” And they took offense at him. Jesus said to them, “Only in his hometown, among his relatives, and in his own house is a prophet without honor.” He could not do any miracles there, except lay his hands on a few sick people and heal them (Mark 6:3-5) (NIV).

Jesus was stating a common reality. Ordinary people get intimidated by one of their own, suddenly becoming successful. Such elements of suppression are what has caused some talented people to suppress what could, otherwise, benefit humanity. In this case, fear and shame are leading reasons for such failures.

Nonetheless, the prime source of fear and shame is pride. Those feeling threatened by the endeavors of their contemporaries are proud people. They seek to ensure that nothing goes beyond the ordinary. To most people, conservatism is good, when avoiding engagement in extraordinary activities.

No other reason caused a renowned astronomer, like Galileo, to be incarcerated on house arrest, yet with such valuable information. Failure is not innate with humans, created in God’s image, but is caused by suppressive elements in communities.

Refusal to be intimidated overcomes failure. Successful people cannot entertain voices of discouragement or invalidation. As God’s children, they believe that nothing limits them in the physical universe. Every human being is capable of achieving whatever is good when directly taking instructions from God.

Failure does not exist, in the vocabulary of God’s children, who are not restricted by race, gender, age, whether young or old. They do not submit to being influenced but they influence the environment. The indelible truth is that, although affecting humans, failure was never designed for humans.

It should be borne in mind that associating success with material acquisitions is the most scandalous deception of all time. This is what has led to deep corruption in Africa. Such thieves consider their unjustified accumulation of wealth as success. But the definition of success is limited to the greatest number of people benefitting from that person’s project.

Andrew Masuku is the author of Dimensions of a New Civilization, laying down standards for uplifting Zimbabwe from the current state of economic depression into a model for other nations worldwide. A decaying tree provides an opportunity for a blossoming sprout. Written from a Christian perspective, the book is a product of inspiration, bringing relief to those having witnessed the strings of unworkable solutions––leading to the current economic and social decay. In a simple conversational tone, most Zimbabweans should find the book as a long-awaited providential oasis of hope.

The Print copy is now available at Amazon.com for $13.99

Also available as an e-copy at Lulu.com  for $6.99