Kodi munayamba mwaganizapo kuti kulephera kungakhale chinthu chopindulitsa kwa inu? Kulephera, tikudziwa, ndikofala kwa aliyense. Palibe aliyense koma munthu wangwiro amene akanatha kukhala ndi moyo popanda kuchimwa. Adamu analengedwa wangwiro ndipo anakhala ndi moyo popanda kulephera kufikira pamene anasankha kusamvera Yehova mwadala. Ambuye wathu Yesu anali munthu wangwiro yekhayo amene anakhalapo ndi moyo wangwiro kotheratu, kuyambira pachiyambi mpaka kumapeto, kulandiridwa ndi Mzimu Woyera. Popeza kuti anthu onse anachokera kwa atate Adamu pambuyo pa kusamvera kwake, onse alandira choloŵa cha uchimo umene umakhala wopanda ungwiro ndi kulephera.

Kulephera, ngakhale kuti sichinthu chomwe timafuna kuchita, sichiyenera kukhala chokhumudwitsa. Kulephera nthawi zonse kumatipatsa chisankho chomwe tiyenera kusankha. Ngati kusankha kuli kulingalira molakwika, kukhumudwa ndi kufuna kusiya, ndiye kuti ndife otayika. Koma, ngati tisankha kuyang'ana kulephera m'njira yabwino, tikhoza kugwiritsa ntchito chidziwitso chomwe tapeza kupyolera mu icho monga mwala wopita ku chipambano. Kenako, tikakumana ndi vuto ngati lomweli titha kuchita mwanzeru njira yathu kudutsa vutolo mothandizidwa ndi Mzimu Woyera.

Lemba la Miyambo 24:16 limatipatsa malangizo olimbikitsa. “…pakuti munthu wolungama akagwa kasanu ndi kawiri, adzaukanso.” Phunziro labwino tingaphunzirepo nthawi iliyonse tikagwa kapena kulephera. Mfundo sikusiya, koma kudzuka! Palibe kulephera kwenikweni kupatula kusiya. Akuti: “Munthu yekha amene salephera ndi amene sanayesepo! Tsoka lalikulu si kulephera, koma kulephera kuyesa.

Paulo akutilimbikitsa pa Agalatiya 6:9. “Tisatope pakuchita zabwino; pakuti pa nyengo yake tidzatuta tikapanda kufowoka. Ngati Thomas Edison sanapirire ndikutsimikiziridwa, tikhoza kukhala tikugwirabe ntchito ndi gaslight kapena osachepera, patha zaka zambiri kuti kuwala kwa magetsi kusanayambe. Edison adalephera kangapo kasanu ndi kamodzi asanakonzekere babu yoyamba yamagetsi! Pa nthawi ina mtolankhani wina wachinyamata anatsutsa Edison akumuuza kuti, "Bambo Edison, n'chifukwa chiyani mukupitiriza kuyesera kupanga magetsi pogwiritsa ntchito magetsi pamene mwalephera nthawi zambiri? Edison anayankha, "Mnyamata, kodi sukuzindikira kuti sindinalephere koma ndapeza njira zikwi zisanu ndi chimodzi zomwe sizingagwire ntchito!" Tsopano, icho ndi chitsanzo cha kulimbikira motsimikiza ndi kugwiritsa ntchito kulephera, bwino!

Abraham Lincoln ndi chitsanzo china chachikulu cha kupirira. Mndandanda wa zolephera pamodzi ndi zopambana zingapo ndi:

• 1831 - Anataya ntchito

• 1832 - Anagonjetsedwa pothamangira ku Illinois State Legislature

• 1833 - Zalephera mu bizinesi

• 1834 - Anasankhidwa ku Illinois State Legislature (kupambana)

• 1835 - Sweetheart anamwalira

• 1836 - Anali ndi vuto lamanjenje

• 1838 - Anagonjetsedwa paulendo wake wa Illinois House Speaker

• 1843 - Adagonja pakupikisana kwake kuti asankhidwe ku US Congress

• 1846 - Anasankhidwa kukhala Congress (kupambana)

• 1848 - Anataya kusankhidwanso

• 1849 - Anakanidwa udindo woyang'anira malo

• 1854 - Adagonja pothamangira ku Senate ya US

• 1856 - Anagonja popikisana kuti asankhidwe kukhala Wachiwiri kwa Purezidenti

• 1858 - Anagonjetsedwanso pothamangira ku Senate ya US

• 1860 - Purezidenti Wosankhidwa (kuchita bwino)

Tsopano ngati anthu amenewa anapirira pa zinthu zimene ankaziona kukhala zofunika kwambiri m’dzikoli, kuli bwanji ifeyo tipitirizebe kufunafuna “kuitana kwapamwamba” mwa Khristu Yesu kumene kudzatha mpaka kalekale ndipo sikudzatha. Mtumwi Paulo anali ndi zambiri zoti anene pa mfundo imeneyi. “Abale, sindidziyesa ndekha kuti ndatha kuchigwira. Koma chinthu chimodzi ndichita: kuiwala zam’mbuyo, ndi kukalangirira za m’tsogolo, ndichita khama kuti ndikalandire mphotho imene Mulungu wandiyitanira kumwamba mwa Khristu Yesu” ( Afilipi 3:13-14 ) . Pamene Paulo ananena kuti “kuiwala zam’mbuyo,” sankaona kuti zimene anakumana nazo m’mbuyo n’kungotaya nthawi, koma sankalola chilichonse mwa zinthu zimenezo kukhala nangula wa zinthu zofooketsa. N’zosakayikitsa kuti anaphunzira zinthu zambiri kuchokera m’mbuyo zimene akanatha kuchita kuti akwaniritse cholinga chake n’kupambana mphoto imene anamuikira.

Tikhale otsimikiza mtima ndi kupirira tsiku ndi tsiku, tikudalira malonjezo a Mawu a Mulungu kuti atisunge olimba paulendo wathu. Tiyeni titengeretu chitsimikiziro chofanana ndi chimene Paulo anali nacho pamene anati, “Ndikhoza zonse mwa Iye wondipatsa mphamvuyo.” ( Afil. 4:13 ) Ndithudi, tiyenera kulabadira chitsimikiziro chimene Paulo anali nacho pamene anati: Ndipo kachiwiri mu Aroma 8:37-39, “Ayi, m’zinthu zonsezi ndife ogonjetsa ndife opambana mwa Iye amene anatikonda. Pakuti ndidziwa kuti ngakhale imfa, ngakhale moyo, ngakhale angelo, kapena maulamuliro, ngakhale zinthu zilipo, kapena zimene zirinkudza, ngakhale mphamvu, ngakhale utali, ngakhale kuya, ngakhale cinthu ciliconse m’cilengedwe conse, sikungathe kutilekanitsa ndi cikondi ca Mulungu. Khristu Yesu Ambuye wathu.”

Have you ever thought that a failure might be something profitable to you? Failure, we know, is common to everyone.  No one but a perfect person could live their life without sinning. Adam was created perfect and lived without failure until choosing to willfully disobey the LORD. Our Lord Jesus was the only perfect man who ever lived an absolutely perfect life, from beginning to end, being conceived by the Holy Spirit. Since all mankind is descended from father Adam after his disobedience, they have all inherited a sinful nature which is subject to imperfection and failure.

Failure, while not something we desire to do, does not have to be a negative experience. Failure always presents us with a choice that we have to make. If the choice is to consider it negatively, becoming discouraged and wanting to give up, then we are the losers. But, if we choose to look at a failure in a positive way, we can use the knowledge gained through it as a steppingstone to success.  Then, when we encounter a similar situation we can more intelligently work our way through the problem with the help of the Holy Spirit.

Proverbs 24:16 offers us encouraging advice. “…for though a righteous man falls seven times, he rises again.” A positive lesson can be learned each time we fall or fail. The point is not to give up, but to get up! There is no real failure except in giving up. It has been said, “The only one who never fails is the one who has never tried!” The greatest calamity is not to have failed, but to have failed to try.

Paul encourages us in Galatians 6:9. "Let us not become weary in doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we don't faint." Had Thomas Edison not persevered and been determined, we may still be working by gaslight or at least, it may have been many years before the first electric light was seen. Edison failed over six thousand times before perfecting the first electric light bulb! On one occasion a young journalist challenged Edison saying to him, "Mr. Edison, why do you keep trying to make light by using electricity when you have failed so many times? Don't you know that gaslights are with us to stay?" To this Edison replied, "Young man, don't you realize that I have not failed but have successfully discovered six thousand ways that won't work!"  Now, that is an example of determined perseverance and using failure, successfully!

Abraham Lincoln is another great example of perseverance. A list of the failures along with a few successes is:

• 1831 - Lost his job

• 1832 - Defeated in his run for Illinois State Legislature

• 1833 - Failed in business

• 1834 - Elected to Illinois State Legislature (success)

• 1835 - Sweetheart died

• 1836 - Had nervous breakdown

• 1838 - Defeated in his run for Illinois House Speaker

• 1843 - Defeated in his run for nomination for U.S. Congress

• 1846 - Elected to Congress (success)

• 1848 - Lost re-nomination

• 1849 - Rejected for land officer position

• 1854 - Defeated in run for U.S. Senate

• 1856 - Defeated in run for nomination for Vice President

• 1858 - Again defeated in run for U.S. Senate

• 1860 - Elected President (success)

Now if these men persevered for the things they thought important in this world, how much more should we persevere for our quest of the “high calling” in Christ Jesus which ends in eternity and will not pass away. The Apostle Paul had more to say on this point. “Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus” (Phil 3:13-14).  When Paul said “forgetting the things that are behind,” he wasn’t counting his past experiences as a waste of time, but he wasn’t letting any of those things become an anchor of discouragement. No doubt he learned many things from his past that he could now apply to his determination to reach his goal and win the prize set before him.

May we be as determined and so persevere day by day, relying upon the promises of God’s Word to keep us strong in our journey. May we truly take to heart the same assurance that Paul had when he said, “I can do all things through Him who strengthens me” (Phil. 4:13). And again in Romans 8:37-39, “No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am certain that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

E. Weeks ©CDMI