No Christian that begins to follow Christ on His mission does it perfectly! Failure is a part of the development for a powerful missional life. Many of Christ's Followers, that have an unhealthy understanding and Biblical view of failure, allow fear of failure to keep them from joining Christ on His mission. Their rationale is that they know they can't do it perfectly, so they won't even attempt to live a missional life because they don't want to fail Christ.
In this post we are going to look at failure and how to overcome it so that we can move forward with Christ's mission. Christians who pursue a missional life won't be able to avoid failure but at the same time the y shouldn't allow failure to hold them back in joining Christ on His mission.
In this post we will look at 3 ways to quickly recover from failure and keep moving forward in shining Christ's Light!
#1: Remember Everybody Fails
" We all stumble in many ways. Anyone who is never at fault in what they say is perfect, able to keep their whole body in check." James 3:2 (NIV)
I really love the first part of this verse because it reminds me that all of us, every last single one of us, mess up and blow it from time to time.
"Indeed there is no one on earth who is righteous, no one who does what is right and never sins." Eccl. 7:20 (NIV)
Did you hear the answers to each of those question that were posed in that verse? Who is righteous on the earth? NO ONE! Who never sins? NO ONE! Other than Jesus Christ there is absolutely no one who has lived a perfect life!
The Bible tells us in Romans 3:23 that everyone has sinned and fallen short of God's glory. Who sins? EVERYONE! The closest that anyone ever come to being perfect is on their resume!
Now this is important to understand because it also apply's to every single Christian living a missional life! All of Christ's Followers who have decided to join Him on His mission will fail in their attempts at one time or another. Every Christian messes up in their attempts to share Jesus, to shine the Light of Christ and in loving people the way God wants us to love them. EVERY CHRISTIAN! Every great person of faith that you can think up who had done amazing things for the Kingdom of God has messed up, blown it and failed. EVERY LAST ONE OF THEM!
When we let go of our unhealthy and unbiblical idea that Christians who who join Christ on His mission must do it perfectly then we are freed to recover from our failures and move forward with Christ's mission faster!
#2: Realize Failure Isn't Fatal
This is an amazing truth to remember! Failure isn't fatal! Wow! How often have we blown our failures way out of proportion believing that the world is going to come crashing down upon us because we blew it! To often! IT FEELS THAT WAY! I get it! But the truth is - it isn't fatal, life will go on and tomorrow will be a new day.
" ... for the righteous fall seven times, they rise again, but the wicked stumbles when calamity strikes." Proverbs 24:16 (NIV)
This verse gives a comparison between two different kinds of people. It compares the righteous person to the wicked person. The righteous person, though he falls (messes up) will rise again as in comparison to the wicked person who stumbles when calamity strikes.
If find it encouraging that even the "Righteous Person" is described as one who falls. Even they mess up but they always seem to get up again and not allow their failing to stop them.
But it is important to understand Biblical Righteousness. According to the Apostle Paul is not a righteousness that comes from good works but a righteous that is imputed to people that comes from faith in Christ's death, burial and resurrection for atonement for their sins.
This is so important to understand otherwise we can quickly be mistaken that the "Righteous Person" is a "Perfect Person" and they're not! The person who is righteous before God is the person who has failed many times, sinned many times but through faith in Jesus' death and resurrection has been declared righteous by God. Being righteous in God's sight is an act of God that He does for us and not an act we do for God.
Now with that in mind look again at the verse in Proverbs 24:16. Those who have been declared righteous by God because of their faith in Him and not by their works even if they fall they will get up again!
Even though we mess up in our attempts to live a powerful missional life God can and will restore us to go live it again! PRAISE GOD!
The Apostle Peter is a perfect example for us to consider. On the night that Jesus was to be arrested Peter declared that he would never abandon Christ even if all the other apostle did. Jesus then told him that he would indeed deny him 3 times before the rooster crowed that very night. But then Jesus gave Peter some encouragement. Jesus told Peter that he has prayed for Peter that God would restore him and help him to encourage the rest of the disciples. And that's exactly what happened! Peter did deny Christ but after God restored him and picked him up Peter went on to have a powerful life on mission for Christ and was an amazing encouragement for the others also.
Why is our failures not fatal? Because Jesus is our High Priest always making intercession for us before God the Father. Jesus is asking the Father to give us all we need to get back up again! All I can say is:
AWESOME!
#3: Recognize The Benefits That Come From Failure
In this part I want to share two benefits that come as a result of your failures! That's right there are benefits from failing!
FAILURE EDUCATES US: The Bible tells us in Proverbs 28: 13 that the person who refuses to admit their failure or mistakes can never be successful. Before we can learn to be successful we have to admit we fail otherwise we are doomed to keep repeating the same mistake over and over again. God uses our mistakes to show areas of my our life that need to experience His improvement or change.
FAILURE MOTIVATES US: The lesson we learn from Proverbs 20:30 is that sometimes it takes painful situations to make us change our ways. Failures can be painful and when we become so tired of blowing it over and over again then we become teachable on the right way to do something.
Even in the story of the Prodigal Son, that Jesus told, we find the son becoming teachable when he comes to his senses while sitting in a pig pen hungry to eat what the pigs were eating.
FAILURES MAKE US DESPERATE - DESPERATION HELPS US TO BECOME TEACHABLE!
Don't allow your failures keep you from joining Christ on His mission! Instead, confess your sins and failure to God and allow God to use them to train you on how to better join Him on His mission.
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