Our church is in the midst of a three-week corporate fast. It's sort of amusing to me that fasting is God's way of slowing us down and bringing us near and helping us listen to His voice. I am excited about what He'll speak into our lives this year as we listen carefully for His voice.
John 10:1-18
“Very truly I tell you Pharisees, anyone who does not enter the sheep pen by the gate, but climbs in by some other way, is a thief and a robber. The one who enters by the gate is the shepherd of the sheep. The gatekeeper opens the gate for him, and the sheep listen to his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he has brought out all his own, he goes on ahead of them, and his sheep follow him because they know his voice. But they will never follow a stranger; in fact, they will run away from him because they do not recognize a stranger’s voice.” Jesus used this figure of speech, but the Pharisees did not understand what he was telling them.
Therefore Jesus said again, “Very truly I tell you, I am the gate for the sheep. All who have come before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep have not listened to them. I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved. They will come in and go out, and find pasture. The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it abundantly.
“I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. The hired hand is not the shepherd and does not own the sheep. So when he sees the wolf coming, he abandons the sheep and runs away. Then the wolf attacks the flock and scatters it. The man runs away because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep.
“I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me—just as the Father knows me and I know the Father—and I lay down my life for the sheep. I have other sheep that are not of this sheep pen. I must bring them also. They too will listen to my voice, and there shall be one flock and one shepherd. The reason my Father loves me is that I lay down my life—only to take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again. This command I received from my Father.”
Tuesday, May 3, 2011
Wednesday, March 30, 2011
New Threats to Freedom - The Freedom to Fail
The loss of the freedom to fail is a true American tragedy. Today's young adults grew up in the era of positivity and self-esteem, which predictably turned out a self-centered generation convinced of its entitlement to academic success, to employment, to financial stability, and to other things prior generations knew came only with hard work. Members of this generation seem to be uniformly convinced - all eighty-five million of them - that they are special. But the real question is this: what does special mean if everyone qualifies?
Without failure, success becomes meaningless. Motivation to excel evaporates. This is basic introductory psychology: if we reward a behavior, we incentivize more of it. If we reward mediocre work, then we should expect more mediocre work. These conditions encourage not a race to the top, but a regression toward the mean. Further, if even a lack of effort will be declared just as successful as outstanding effort, there is no incentive to push harder to achieve difficult goals. When excellence is no longer rewarded by recognition, true accomplishment vanishes.
Also, when failure is uncommon, the healthy fear of failure which motivates people to be diligent disappears, replaced by an unhealthy, paralyzing anxiety. Failure takes on a disproportionate degree of importance. This is why we have parents lined up to protest their children's grades and why teachers "socially promote" unsuccessful students. This is, at least in part, why there are high school graduates in this country who cannot read. I ask you, can we call their education a success? We have decided failure is an unacceptable insult to a person's self-esteem, but maybe rewarding false success is the real insult, because it implies the person is incapable of real success.
When the unhealthy fear of failure reigns, to fail (or worse, to be a failure) becomes unthinkable. This leads to inertia and paralysis. It stifles risk-taking, innovation, and creativity. People who are afraid to fail are defeated already because they become afraid to try.
The reason this is a tragedy for America is obvious. Innovation and creativity are what have made this country great. If we become afraid to take risks, we limit our capacity to succeed and lead the world in discovery and innovation. As the story goes, Thomas Edison failed thousands of times in his creation of the light bulb before he finally arrived at success. While this may be an urban legend, the point itself is valid: those who give up because they are afraid to fail are guaranteed never to succeed.
Failure is not defeat unless it results in surrender, and it is almost always a stepping stone on the path to success. The truly great achievers of the past knew this, but it's a wisdom we have lost. We need the freedom to fail so we can recover the freedom to try and to excel. Anything less puts the American dream and its ideals in jeopardy.
Note: This post is an entry for a short essay scholarship contest. The essay is in response to this video, which carries over themes from the book New Threats to Freedom, edited by Adam Bellow (available for purchase on Amazon and at other major booksellers).
Without failure, success becomes meaningless. Motivation to excel evaporates. This is basic introductory psychology: if we reward a behavior, we incentivize more of it. If we reward mediocre work, then we should expect more mediocre work. These conditions encourage not a race to the top, but a regression toward the mean. Further, if even a lack of effort will be declared just as successful as outstanding effort, there is no incentive to push harder to achieve difficult goals. When excellence is no longer rewarded by recognition, true accomplishment vanishes.
Also, when failure is uncommon, the healthy fear of failure which motivates people to be diligent disappears, replaced by an unhealthy, paralyzing anxiety. Failure takes on a disproportionate degree of importance. This is why we have parents lined up to protest their children's grades and why teachers "socially promote" unsuccessful students. This is, at least in part, why there are high school graduates in this country who cannot read. I ask you, can we call their education a success? We have decided failure is an unacceptable insult to a person's self-esteem, but maybe rewarding false success is the real insult, because it implies the person is incapable of real success.
When the unhealthy fear of failure reigns, to fail (or worse, to be a failure) becomes unthinkable. This leads to inertia and paralysis. It stifles risk-taking, innovation, and creativity. People who are afraid to fail are defeated already because they become afraid to try.
The reason this is a tragedy for America is obvious. Innovation and creativity are what have made this country great. If we become afraid to take risks, we limit our capacity to succeed and lead the world in discovery and innovation. As the story goes, Thomas Edison failed thousands of times in his creation of the light bulb before he finally arrived at success. While this may be an urban legend, the point itself is valid: those who give up because they are afraid to fail are guaranteed never to succeed.
Failure is not defeat unless it results in surrender, and it is almost always a stepping stone on the path to success. The truly great achievers of the past knew this, but it's a wisdom we have lost. We need the freedom to fail so we can recover the freedom to try and to excel. Anything less puts the American dream and its ideals in jeopardy.
Note: This post is an entry for a short essay scholarship contest. The essay is in response to this video, which carries over themes from the book New Threats to Freedom, edited by Adam Bellow (available for purchase on Amazon and at other major booksellers).
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