6 MINUTE READ

From Luke’s Journal Sept 2025 | Vol. 30 No. 2 | Success-Failure

Part of my work with medical students involves being concerned about their mental wellness and supporting their self-care as they navigate new and challenging experiences. As high achievers, medical students often have little experience with “not excelling”. Sometimes, the students would share that they feel upset with “just passing” or receiving criticisms. Digging deeper, this is because “just passing” and criticisms are synonymous with “failure” in their minds. In contrast, being correct, achieving a high grade point average (GPA) and receiving praise reflect “success”.

Reflecting on my own training, I can see that none of the degree programs I completed equipped me to deal with failures positively. During our clinical training, we tended to critique our efforts harshly, self-reflect using worst-case scenarios, and consider uncertainties as failures. In our research work, the mountains of rejections that are often experienced before a moment of success can be soul-destroying. Even after training, most career pathways do not follow a smooth upward trajectory, but a “lumpy” one of progressions and setbacks.

In this life, failures are inescapable. Quite often, failures precede success. In Right Kind Of Wrong, Why Learning To Fail Can Teach Us To Thrive, Harvard Professor, Amy Edmondson, pointed out that failing well is difficult because we fear failure and the social stigma it carries, so the default human inclination is to ‘move on’ from failures rather than confront and learn from them.¹

As Christians, how do YOU view success and failure?

In this issue of Luke’s Journal, our team of authors took up the challenge to explore different aspects of success and failure that are relevant to us as Christian healthcare professionals.

Dr Johanna Lynch poetically and philosophically explores “What Is Success?“. In “The Star Of Success”, a devotional piece, Dr Kristen Dang challenges us to examine the condition of our hearts. A poet lamented the medical termination of a pregnancy in “A Song To The Unborn Child”, encouraging philosophical pondering about “success-failure” in this context. Drawing on their life experiences of success and failure, Dr Patrina Caldwell shared some encouraging Biblical truths for us to meditate on in ”Success/Failure: Life Experiences”, while Mr Stanley Leong challenges us to consider, “What might your epitaph say?” in “Is There Success Or Failure In Mission?”.

Considering success in both our work and our spiritual growth, Dr Caleb Park offers some practical insights in “Long In The Tooth: Dental Vs. Spiritual Longevity”. Dr Catherine Hollier discusses the often “taboo” topic of income and wealth in “Mastering Money: Are You The Steward Or The Slave?”.

Through the lens of “failing well”, Dr Anthony Herbert not only challenges us to develop a growth mindset by focusing on the learning opportunities that come from mistakes (rather than the emotions that come from viewing mistakes as failures) in “Mistakes Are A Part Of Life In A Fallen World” but also encourages us to see “redemption in our mistakes”. In “Weary From Distress”, one author with lived experience of dealing with injustice and false accusations as a GP shares some strategies to deal with “failings” that are beyond our control as Christian healthcare professionals, while in “The Anatomy Of A Breakdown”, an anonymous author shares his personal experience of a breakdown, that then led to a breakthrough.

Dr Omar Djoeandy confronted us with, “Is our definition of success harming us?” in “Redefining Success According To Jesus”. Mr Scott Pasley invites us to contemplate success-failure as a spectrum, in “Success And Failure As A Christian In The Workplace”. By contrast, Dr Vibooshini Ganeshaligham, in “Onto Bigger And Better Things: When Does It Stop?” takes us through an exposition of contrasting views.

In “Notions Of Success And Failure – A Failed Axiom”, the author challenges us to consider that success and failure both have two sides. He asks some pertinent questions that beg for critical self-reflections, such as “What do we learn about God, life, others and ourselves?”, “How does the experience change us?”, and encourages us to focus less on the “false axiom of success and failure” that the world conveys and more on Biblical “wisdom and foolishness”. Adjunct Professor Kara Martin further explores some of these questions in “A Brief Theology Of Success And Failure”. In “Failure And Success: Alter Egos”, Dr Lucy van Baalen, in her honest and deep-dive style, examines life lessons that she has learned and shares the valuable insights she discovered as she journeyed through the adventures of life.

Dr John Wenham shares the angst of every student in “Medical School Exams”: The Fine Line Between Success And Failure”. While discussing exams, hurdles, and cut-offs, Dr Wenham is reminded how God assessed kings who were mentioned in the Bible (1 and 2 Chronicles) and concludes that the ultimate pass/fail criteria is obedience and faithfulness unto our Heavenly Father and His purpose. Professor Nathan Grills and Dr Robert Yee explore similar themes in “Failing And Succeeding Faithfully” and “Transformation Of The Heart: Success In The Upside-down Kingdom Of God”. These pieces of work challenge us to look beyond one incident, one experience and one point in our lives, be they successes or failures.

I am thankful to God that we can explore success and failure deeply through the voices of the many gifted authors in this issue of Luke’s Journal, who have generously shared insights from their life experiences, pointing us back to the importance of knowing God and what He expects of us as His children. May we always remember, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your path straight.” (Proverbs 3:5-6 NIV).

May God bless you, and work in and through you to bless others!

In Christ,

Annetta
On behalf of the Luke’s Journal editorial team

---