Failure is only final if one quits. If you say you are going to get back up, even if you took one on the chin, got egg on your face, or slipped up, if you refuse to let failure be final for you, that incident becomes a stepping-stone for you; not a tombstone, a stepping-stone.

The Bible says that a righteous man, though he falls seven times, will get back up (see Proverbs 24:16). I’ve often wondered why this man is considered righteous if he keeps falling. If you keep messing up and making mistakes, how can you be considered righteous? I think the key is that he keeps getting back up. He yet believes that even though he falls more than once or twice or even many times, he can still get back up. He keeps getting up because he knows who has gone before him and secured the victory for him. Since God is on his side, he can stand up every time he’s knocked down because he knows that failure does not mean that God has abandoned him. It may very well be the evidence that God is with him. Being knocked down simply means he is in a battle. Refusing to stay down is actually an expression of faith in the ability of God to restore and strengthen us. Let us not think any differently toward those who follow us! 

Conversely, staying down is an expression of doubt in God’s ability to bring us through difficult situations, and the consequences of this can be dire. As the Bible teaches (see Hebrews 10:39), those that shrink back from the fight get destroyed, while those that keep the faith and keep rising despite the blows get saved. We sometimes think that staying down and making peace with failure will preserve our lives when, in fact, doing so is tantamount to signing a contract with failure—or worse. Though you may feel like you cannot keep on and are about to quit, remember that failure is only final if you quit.