The series “Deal or No Deal” continues with a sermon titled "Dealing with Failure." In it, we look into the story of Simon, who cannot find any fish the whole night despite being a professional fisherman. This week, Pastor Joy reminds us that failure should not define our future and discusses ways to deal with failure.

How often do you hear the saying "What does not kill you makes you stronger" In reality, it is easier to say than done. When we are failing at something, most of the time we will dwell on the situation and we will not have the strength to pull ourself back up. We took it as a final result and we immediately determined that we could not do it. Same thing when we encounter failure in our spiritual life, when we are sinning for example. We immediately dwell on it and begin to disengage with fellow believers, with the church community, and ultimately with God Himself.

But we must remember that throughout Scripture we see that human sin, failure, and inadequacy are no obstacles to God’s call. God calls imperfect people to do God’s work, people who are aware of their unworthiness and are often doubting. All we must do is accept our failure, recognize it, humble ourselves before God, and ask Him for strength.

Jesus’ word to Simon Peter is also a word to us: “Do not be afraid.” This is Jesus’ encouraging word, and we trust that He will keep working with us and through us. God doesn’t wait for us to shape up into perfect beings. God calls us as we are and then works on shaping us into faithful servants. We must not give in to our failure but rather we must go closer to God and continue to hold on to Him.