The third servant was afraid of failure so he didn’t do anything with what he had been given. Craig Blomberg says of the third servant… “His tragic error lay in allowing himself to be paralyzed by fear.”[i] Christ follower we can’t be paralyzed by fear. A healthy fear of the Lord should motivate us to be faithful with what the Lord has given us.
Don’t Fear Mistakes, Just Learn From Them
Peter Barron Stark (the author of The Only Leadership Book You’ll Ever Need) tells what may be an Urban Legend, but it illustrates a point about not fearing to make mistakes.
Thomas Watson, the founder of IBM, believed in building a culture that embraced failure and making mistakes. In fact, one of Watson’s most famous quotes is, “The way to succeed is to double your error rate.” So what does make a great leader? Some may believe that great leaders make fewer mistakes than average leaders. Actually, the opposite is true. Great leaders make mistakes in how they handle people and situations, but what sets them apart is that they learn from those mistakes.
Do you and the leaders at your organization recognize mistakes for what they are–a great opportunity for your team to learn and grow? Although Thomas Watson died in 1956, his legend of embracing failure and mistakes lives on. You may have heard the story of a 1940’s IBM employee who made a mistake that cost the company about one million dollars. Knowing that he was about to be fired, the employee typed up his letter of resignation, and handed it to Watson. Watson responded: “Fire you? I’ve just invested one million dollars in your education, and you think I’m going to fire you?”
To paraphrase John C. Maxwell: “A person must be big enough to admit his mistakes, smart enough to profit from them, and strong enough to correct them.”
Do you take risks, make mistakes, publicly own your mistakes, and determine a plan for what you will do differently?
Where and what are the risk barriers you are afraid to make?
- Are you afraid to step out on faith and give more of your money to Kingdom causes? Why not take a risk…it doesn’t have to be a big risk. Will you advance your giving this year by at least 1%? If you make $60,000 a year, that is $11.53 more per week. If you make $100,000 a year, that is $19.23 more per week. Will you take the risk?
- Do you have a neighbor, child, in-law, family member, neighbor, co-worker, someone you see regularly in the service industries with which you have never mentioned the name of Jesus or our church? Will you take that risk?
- What are you passionate about? What gives you energy? One thing we are passionate about is cooking and of course eating! So how can we use this passion to reveal God to others? The answer for me is biblical, hospitality and food. There are several times in the old and new testaments where God shows up in settings of hospitality and food. In Genesis 18, Abraham asks Sarah to prepare a meal for strangers who later are revealed as God. In Luke chapter 24 Jesus is invited into a home and reveals His presence to others during the meal. By inviting others into our home and sharing a meal we too can reveal God’s presence to those in need of His great love. Will you take that kind of risk?
Written by one of our partners in ministry Dr. Dick Ivey
FBC Celina, TX 