It’s difficult to answer this one. I failed my driving test on the first occasion. Then, I passed when I did it again. Perhaps it made me a better driver, but I don’t know. And I would have failed to get jobs that I applied for, and I’d get another job instead. But I don’t think that I ever got a dream job. Still, maybe I was better off failing to get some of those jobs that I had earlier applied for. Who knows? Generally speaking, when you’re learning programming or whatever, you build knowledge and experience through your failures. And perhaps life itself is the same.
Spiritually, I was quite discontent with myself, my life and the world as a teenager. I sometimes wish that I was more like other people. But that set me thinking about God and what He expected of me. And when I read the New Testament, the standards seemed very high. I wondered how I could possibly get to heaven. Did I love God with all my heart, soul, mind and strength? Did I love my neighbour as myself? But perhaps a key point of such commands is partly to show us what we should aim for and partly to show that we’ll always fall short. We need a Saviour.
And the wonderful thing about the gospel is that it does literally mean good news. I always take great comfort in the parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector. The Pharisee thought that he was doing well. In fairness, he did give the credit to God, but you could see that he was really congratulating himself. And the tax collector simply asked for God’s mercy. And he was the one who is commended in the parable and was justified before God.
Luke 18:13-14
13 “But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner.’ 14 “I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God.
So perhaps, if I felt more complacent, contented and successful, I might never have bother committing my life to Christ. I might have drifted into atheism, agnosticism or just been nominally religious to fit in with Irish culture.
Hibernia Gospel 