“The righteousness that I have comes from knowing Christ, the power of his resurrection, and the participation in his sufferings. It includes being conformed to his death so that I may perhaps reach the goal of the resurrection of the dead” (Philippians 3:10-11, CEB).

I often take my kids to the skating rink to roller skate. Since they are still learning to skate, I tell them to keep their heads in front of their skates. Then, if they fall, they will fall forward and can catch themselves on their hands and knees and can get back up and continue skating. If they  fall backward on their head or back, they risk hurting themselves and not wanting to skate anymore.

I’ve spent much of my career trying to understand how people learn. And one thing I’ve learned about learning is that some of the best learning occurs from failing. For example, it’s easier to learn how to skate when you know how to fall.

Failure holds a lot of opportunity for success! We call it practice. Practice is when we repeat failure until it becomes success.

Being a follower of Jesus and living a Christian life takes practice. We call this practice discipleship. Philippians 3:10-11 is the Apostle Paul’s definition of discipleship.

To become more like Christ, we must participate in His sufferings. Because, the power of resurrection is activated by participation in suffering.

In other words, Christ’s power in our lives can best be demonstrated when we are powerless–when we fail. When you lose control of your life, then Jesus can take control of your life!

That’s failing forward–in Christ.

When suffering, tragedy or failure come your way–and they will–fail forward.

Let your participation in the sufferings of Christ He experienced as a human being move you to grasp onto the the power of His resurrection so that you can achieve the ultimate goal–everlasting life in the presence of God.

All of us are looking with unveiled faces at the glory of the Lord as if we were looking in a mirror. We are being transformed into that same image from one degree of glory to the next degree of glory. (2 Corinthians 3:18, CEB)