"MistakeOut"

Bette Nesmith had a good secretarial job in a Dallas bank when she ran across a problem that interested her. Her thought was there must be a better way to correct typewriter errors? Having had some art experience, she knew that artists who worked in oils just painted over their errors. So she began to think that maybe that would work for her too. So she concocted a fluid to paint over her typing errors. Before long, all the secretaries in her building were using what she then called "MistakeOut." She attempted to sell the product idea to marketing agencies and various companies (including IBM), but they all turned her down. However, secretaries continued to like her product, so Bette Nesmith’s kitchen became her first manufacturing facility and she started selling it on her own. When she eventually sold the enterprise, the tiny white bottles were earning $3.5 million annually on sales of $38 million. The buyer was the Gillette Company and the sale price was $47.5 million. Soon the little bottles of “Liquid Paper” were found in every desk drawer.

There are so many success stories like this one spanning every imaginable area of life. Each one involves overcoming some obstacle in order to reach the goal. In Bette Nesmith’s story, the obstacle she had to overcome was the fact that no one believed in her product. Yet Bette Nesmith did not let that stop her from accomplishing what she had set out to do.

I wonder this morning if there is some “obstacle” that has been erected in your life that seems to be keeping you from reaching your goal. Jesus knew a great deal about obstacles too.

But the Pharisees went out and plotted how they might kill Jesus. Aware of this, Jesus withdrew from that place. A large crowd followed him, and he healed all who were ill. He warned them not to tell others about him. This was to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet Isaiah: “Here is my servant whom I have chosen, the one I love, in whom I delight; I will put my Spirit on him, and he will proclaim justice to the nations. He will not quarrel or cry out; no one will hear his voice in the streets. A bruised reed he will not break, and a smoldering wick he will not snuff out, till he has brought justice through to victory. In his name the nations will put their hope.” (Matthew 12:14-21 NIV).

Let me make some practical suggestions as you face your own “Pharisees.”

1. First, trust your life to God’s care. Jesus did not fight the Pharisees. He knew that His heavenly Father would not allow these men to stand in the way of His will. That promise is yours also. Even when the obstacle seems insurmountable, everything is possible with the Lord.

2. Second, don’t quit. One of the devil’s best weapons is the deception of the impossible. Real hope comes from those things that are unseen. Some of the best victories in life come to us with an entirely different appearance than we might have imagined. Just keep going in the path God has given you to walk. Right does win!