Christians ought to accept failure as part of life, says Pastor Rick Warren

Lorraine Caballero Thursday, March 17, 2016

A screengrab from a video showing Saddleback Church's Pastor Rick Warren inviting people to Easter. | YOUTUBE / Saddleback Church

Failure is a natural part of life and Christians must learn to accept and redefine it, Saddleback Church Pastor Rick Warren says.

In a write-up titled "You Need to Accept the Reality of Failure," Southern California-based Pastor Rick Warren urged Christians to accept the fact that failure is a reality of life. He cautioned against letting the fear of failure control our lives, because no one is perfect.

Warren said Americans put so much value on success and neglect the truth that everyone fails at some point. The world-renowned Christian leader explained that failure is part of humanity, and there is no guarantee that a person will not commit another mistake in the future no matter how careful he tries to be, The Christian Post reports.

Pastor Warren says playing safe is also a mistake in itself. Fearing failure can cause a person to become a workaholic and indecisive. It can also cause a perfectionist to avoid taking risks just to avoid failure. The only failure that a person needs to fear is the failure to receive God's grace, the pastor said, quoting Hebrews 12:15.

"You'll never overcome your fear of failure until you fully accept the reality that you're not perfect," Warren expressed. "You've already failed many, many times in life. So have I. You're a failure in some area of your life right now. And you'll fail a lot more in the future."

What Christians need to do is to accept failure, let go of their fear, and rely on God's grace.

In another post, Pastor Warren cites several successful people who succeeded because they persevered even after several failures. He used U.S. President George Washington, Rowland Hussey Macy, and Babe Ruth as examples.

In addition, Warren said a person becomes a failure once he gives up.

Referencing the story of Jesus' resurrection in the Bible, he said God specializes in turning failures into successes. One overcomes failure by giving it to God and obeying His will no matter what negative issues come up.