Finishing Well

You may have a can of WD-40 around the house. It is a common household item for lubricating items and stopping squeaks. But do you know where the name comes from? The WD stands for Water Displacement. The 40 stands for the number of tries it took them to get an effective and successful formula. They failed 39 times but succeeded on the 40th try.

I have never met a person who has newly started their walk with Christ who intended to quit that walk someday down the road. Most people who begin their spiritual walk are filled with zeal and excitement. Unfortunately, for some, something happens along the way and they just...quit.

They stopped running the race and just gave up. It's not that they're a bad person. But something, somewhere, stole their joy and they just didn't have the strength to take another step. And sadly, many never get back in the race.

Somewhere in the Christian church, we began defining godliness as never falling. But the men and women of the Bible never illustrated it in that way. All the heroes of the faith had their moments of failure. In fact, we don't even need their illustrations to understand this truth. Listen to the words of the wise man in Proverbs 24:16: "The godly may trip seven times, but they will get up again."

Do you see it? It's not that "the godly don't fall"; the godly and the ungodly both fall. The difference is the godly get up again. That verse continues: "But one disaster is enough to overthrow the wicked."

So the next time you are tempted to quit, (on your marriage, on your kids, on your church, on your God) remember WD-40. Success may come with the next attempt!