Okay, let\u2019s get this out of the way: if you\u2019re reading this, you\u2019re a failure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Don\u2019t worry-I\u2019m a failure too! No one in human history can honestly say they\u2019ve succeeded in everything they\u2019ve ever tried (except for one special case-more on him later). I wonder if that\u2019s oddly refreshing news for you today. Feel like you\u2019re the only one doing the failing around these parts? Not even close. Failure is a common bond shared between people who don\u2019t happen to be God. And the more we talk honestly about the fear of failure, the more we realize we\u2019re all in the same boat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Two Kinds of Failure<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Before we get too far, we should differentiate between two kinds of failure: creature failure and spiritual failure. Spiritual failure is our failure to do what God says. Most of this guide will discuss that kind of failure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But not all failure is the same. Not all failure is our fault-at least not in the same way. Sometimes we fail because we\u2019re sinners; other times we fail because we\u2019re creatures. We were created in the image of God, but that\u2019s not the same thing as being God. Creature failure is when you try and fail-even if you tried hard and did it for the right reasons-because, well, you\u2019re human. Seeing this distinction is one of the first steps in learning from failure instead of being crushed by it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The distinction between spiritual and creature failure is designed to help you respond appropriately to the failure(s) in your life. You will mess things up; things won\u2019t always go your way. And you will drive yourself absolutely crazy if you try to trace every instance of failure back to a sinful attitude or action. It\u2019s just not that simple. Life in a fallen world is full of reminders that we are not God. Understanding this is also a quiet doorway into how to overcome fear of failure-by realizing some failure comes simply from being human.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Reintroducing God<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Speaking of God, let\u2019s talk about him for a minute. If you\u2019re like me, you probably tend to assume God is just a bigger, better version of yourself. Of course, you\u2019d never say it that way. But be honest: are you tempted to treat the difference between you and God like one of quantity, not quality? It\u2019s so easy to act like the universe is the Westminster Dog Show-we consider ourselves the same breed as the Lord, even if we\u2019d admit he should win \u201cbest of show.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Friend, that could not be more wrong. God is not like us. He\u2019s in a category all his own, simply labelled \u201cGod.\u201d True, we were made in his image, but at best we\u2019re a dull reflection of his manifold glory. There is no one like God. Not you and not me. He\u2019s the creator; we\u2019re his creatures.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
You can attribute some of your failure to being on the \u201ccreature\u201d side of the distinction between Creator and creature. God never fails because he\u2019s God\u2014to fail would be to cease being who he is, who he\u2019s always been. Let\u2019s consider some of the reasons we fail and how God, as God, can\u2019t relate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Five Reasons Why We Fail and God Doesn\u2019t<\/p>\n\n\n\n
First, God is pure act. Okay, I know that sounds a little esoteric, but bear with me for a minute. Few things sting more than unrealized potential. Failure hurts the most when things look most promising at the outset. Unfortunately, our potential cuts both ways. We can always be better; we can always be worse. This gap between what we hope for and what actually happens often fuels the fear of failure<\/em>, making us forget why failing is important<\/em> for our growth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n As weird as it feels to write this, it\u2019s true: God has no potential. He can\u2019t become because he already is. There\u2019s no new initiative he needs to take or a better version of himself to become. Every ounce of God\u2019s infinite perfection operates at 100% all the time in every way. He couldn\u2019t improve if he tried, and he certainly couldn\u2019t get worse. He just is.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Second, God is holy. I know I said we\u2019d spend this section thinking of creature failure, but you can\u2019t talk about God without mentioning his holiness. What is God\u2019s holiness? It\u2019s his internal commitment to everything right. Ultimately, God\u2019s holiness is his commitment to himself and his glory as the most amazing thing in the universe and beyond.<\/p>\n\n\n\n God doesn\u2019t love anything more than he loves himself. He is perfectly righteous\u2014he\u2019s the very standard of righteousness. He never cuts ethical corners. Everything he does, everything he thinks, everything he adores is right in alignment with his own eternal, radiant, beautiful purity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Third, God is self-sufficient. If we didn\u2019t need, we wouldn’t fail. If we had everything we need (or want) within ourselves, we wouldn\u2019t need to go outside ourselves for fulfilment. We strive for good things. We strive for bad things. We strive for good things for bad reasons. Our lack moves us to action, which doesn\u2019t always net the result we want. This is where managing failure<\/em> becomes important-recognizing that our limitations are built-in, not always moral.<\/p>\n\n\n\n We are dependent creatures. God, on the other hand, is independent. He has everything he needs within himself. He doesn\u2019t depend on anything or anyone outside of himself for life (Acts 17:25). There\u2019s nothing out there to complete him, nothing else he could strive for and possibly not attain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Fourth, God knows everything. If we only knew! If we only knew how that investment opportunity was going to turn out when we put the money in. If only we knew that the person we trusted would let us down in the end. Risk is inherent in human decision-making because we don\u2019t know all the details, much less the outcomes. For us, there is no such thing as a sure thing. This uncertainty often feeds our fear of defeat<\/em>, making everyday decisions feel heavier than they really are.<\/p>\n\n\n\n God never has to say \u201cif I only knew\u201d because he knows everything already (Isaiah 46:10). Not one single thing in the entire universe-down to the tiniest movement of a molecule-happens without his knowing about it. In fact, nothing happens without him knowing because nothing happens that he didn\u2019t plan. No unforeseen complications or circumstances can alter God\u2019s \u201cPlan A.\u201d Everything works out just as he purposes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Fifth, God is all-powerful. I guess you could say that, for God, knowledge really is power! We rarely have a clue about what\u2019s going on, much less do we have any ability to affect the outcome in any decisive way. All the training, education, experience, or wealth in the world can\u2019t guarantee a successful outcome.<\/p>\n\n\n\n What God knows and does go hand-in-hand. He executes all his plans to absolute perfection\u2014no proverbial monkey wrenches can stop him. God always gets it done. All he had to do was speak, and everything you see outside your window was created in an instant (Gen. 1\u20132). \u201cTry\u201d isn\u2019t a word in the divine dictionary. God doesn\u2019t try\u2014he only does.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Utility of an Unrelatable God<\/p>\n\n\n\n God really can\u2019t relate to our creaturely limitations. I think that\u2019s a good thing-a very good, necessary thing if he\u2019s going to be of any use to us at all. When we\u2019re wrestling with how to deal with fear of failure<\/em>, it actually helps to know there is Someone who never fails and never fears.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Kevin DeYoung flips that logic on its head in an old conference message called \u201cThe God Who Is Not Like Us: Why We Need the Doctrine of Divine Immutability.\u201d He used the illustration of playing with LEGOs on the floor with his young son. His son gets bent out of shape because he can\u2019t follow the construction instructions; pieces are missing\u2014it\u2019s a mess! What does his son need at that moment? Does he need a dad who is just as devastated as he is, or a dad who\u2019s able to reach down and help pull him out of his failure?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Friend, a more \u201crelatable\u201d God can do nothing for you. If God can fail, who\u2019s going to help him when he fails? Moreover, how can God help you when you fall if he can\u2019t even help himself? A so-called \u201cgod\u201d who needs you and me as much as we need him isn\u2019t worthy of the name.<\/p>\n\n\n\n God never fails. His unfailing, covenant-keeping character gives us failing, flaky people, genuine hope. There is someone out there who is able to reach down here to pull us up on solid ground again. This is the foundation for Success through failure-not that we succeed because we\u2019re flawless, but because God meets us in our weakness and shows us the importance of failure in shaping us. We can trust his purposes and promises to us will never fail because he will never fail.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Discussion Questions:<\/p>\n\n\n\n In part one, we distinguished between two different types of failure: spiritual failure and creature failure. Creature failure is what happens when we fail because we simply aren\u2019t God. Failure isn\u2019t always our fault. This helps us understand the importance of failure<\/em> as part of our design, not always our downfall.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A lot of times it is, though. We\u2019re going to call the kind of failure that is our fault spiritual failure. Spiritual failure happens when we don\u2019t love and obey God over anyone or anything else. You could also call spiritual failure by its other, more popular name: sin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Spiritual failure occurs on two levels-vertical and horizontal. When we fail spiritually, we fail God first and foremost. Our fundamental problem is that we fail to do our job as those created in God\u2019s image. Our failure deserves an eternity\u2019s worth of God\u2019s holy wrath. This is often where the fear of failure<\/em> turns into the deeper fear of defeat<\/em>, because we sense that our failures matter far more than we first assumed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Our spiritual failure starts with God but usually leads us to fail others, too. We missed the recital because we couldn\u2019t put the bottle down after work. Our business partner can\u2019t pay their mortgage because we\u2019ve been building up a little nest egg from company funds. We\u2019re too addicted to images of other people on our phones to care for our spouses. We always fail God first, but spiritual failure is rarely content until it hurts someone else, too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A Long Line of Failures<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n In the beginning . . . God. That\u2019s how the Bible\u2019s story starts. God was just there\u2014always existing and enjoying perfect fellowship as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. This infinitely happy God decided to create. He didn\u2019t need to. He just wanted to do it to show off his glory, and so he did. Everything that comes into being after Genesis 1:1 was created by him and for him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Adam and Eve were no exception. In fact, human beings occupied (and continue to occupy) a unique role in God\u2019s creation. Out of all the things God made, only Adam and Eve were made \u201cin his image\u201d (Gen. 1:27). They were brought into the world possessing a special relationship to God\u2014a relationship that gives us a status and a job. We are God\u2019s image-bearers who are supposed to represent him. Adam was created to be like a son to God and bear a spiritual family resemblance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n What does it mean to imagine God in this way? We image God by telling the truth about him, by loving him the most, and by doing what he says. Adam\u2019s job was to reflect the glory and goodness of his Creator while protecting the Garden and spreading the knowledge of God\u2019s glory across the globe (Gen. 1:28). That was Adam\u2019s job and, since he represents us all, that\u2019s our job as well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Unfortunately, the story doesn\u2019t end there. Adam sinned against God by listening to the serpent\u2019s lies and eating from the tree God had told him not to eat from. Instead of reflecting God\u2019s glory, Adam decided to try to reflect on his own.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Adam failed. He had a job to do and responsibilities to execute, but he failed. His failure introduces us to the deep human struggle of managing failure<\/em>, because Adam\u2019s fall shows how quickly good intentions can collapse into sin. The effects of Adam\u2019s failure spread everywhere. Through Adam\u2019s sin, physical and spiritual death entered the world, and no one can escape their reach. Adam\u2019s failure not only affects us, but it counts as our failure too. In Adam, we\u2019re born guilty and corrupt. Just like Adam and Eve were kicked out of the Garden, our sins separate us from the One who created us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Adam and Eve go on to have children, but spiritual failure runs in the family. Everyone who comes after Adam continues to be God\u2019s image but also continues to sin, failing to love the Lord with all their heart, mind, soul, and strength. Humanity\u2019s collective sin makes Moses, the author of the first five books of the Bible, stop and write that \u201cthe wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually\u201d (Gen. 6:5).<\/p>\n\n\n\n That\u2019s\u2026 comprehensive. This side of the fall, none of us are good people who simply fail from time to time. We\u2019re not sinners because we sin every now and then-we sin because we\u2019re sinners. Spiritually speaking, we fail because we are spiritual failures. Our sinful actions are the fruit that reveals our rotten hearts. This is exactly why learning how to deal with fear of failure<\/em> matters-otherwise failure just becomes another cycle of shame.<\/p>\n\n\n\n God decides to start over in Genesis 6. He sends a flood to wipe every living creature off the face of the earth except for Noah and his family. After the waters receded, God told Noah to be fruitful and multiply in Genesis 9:1\u2014the same job God gave Adam to do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But this \u201crestart\u201d is almost immediately shown to be a false start. Failure definitely survived the flood, as Noah got drunk and naked in his tent before Genesis 9 ended. It\u2019s another reminder of why failing is important: it exposes the unchanged human heart, even after a fresh beginning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Fast forward several centuries to the nation of Israel. The great and promised nation finds itself in Egyptian slavery. God raised Moses up to deliver his people from Pharaoh\u2019s rule and bring them to the land he promised their ancestors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n On the way to the promised land, they had to take a pit stop at Mount Sinai. There, God made his relationship with Israel official: they will be his people and he will be their God (Exod. 19:7\u201311). Israel takes on the job God gave Adam in the Garden\u2014they are committed to live as God\u2019s glory-refectors to the nations. They\u2019re even called God\u2019s \u201cson\u201d in Exodus 4:22.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The terms and conditions for living as God\u2019s people in the land come to them in the form of the Law, which Moses brought down to them on the tablets of stone. If Israel does their job and obeys, they\u2019ll experience blessing. If they fail, they\u2019ll face judgement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Let\u2019s just say Israel did more of the latter. They failed to abide by those terms and conditions. I mean, they don\u2019t even wait for Moses to get back to them with the tablets before they melted down their jewelry and formed a golden calf to worship (Exod. 32). They had one job, and they committed a fireable offense before their official start date.<\/p>\n\n\n\n That was just a preview of what was to come. Israel could not get out of their own way. God had made a covenant with them, but they never held up their end of the bargain. His presence among them\u2014meant to be a source of joy\u2014turned into a problem. How can a holy God live among a sinful people?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Leaders like Moses and the sacrificial system provided a temporary solution. But year after year, despite sacrifice after sacrifice, Israel kept failing to do what God commissioned them to do-their hearts were too enamored by the \u201cgods\u201d around them to be the ideal community under God they were supposed to model. Yet even in this, the story hints at Success through failure<\/em>, because their shortcomings pointed forward to the One who would never fail.<\/p>\n\n\n\n What Israel needed was good leadership. During the time of the Judges, everyone did what was right in their own eyes because there was no king to keep them in check (Judg. 21:25). Israel was excited about the prospect of a king, even though they valued the same things in a prospective leader as the nations around them. They wanted someone imposing, someone who could lead them into battle\u2014someone . . . tall! Surely such a king would guarantee the end of their spiritual failure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n God had another idea: a scruffy little shepherd boy named David. He charges on the scene full of zeal for God\u2019s glory and confidence in the Lord to deliver his people, no matter how big the enemy (1 Sam. 17). This \u201cman after God\u2019s own heart\u201d looked to have a bright future as God gave him success after success (1 Sam. 13:14). His role as king was to represent Israel\u2019s interests. David\u2019s success would be their success; his failure would be their failure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n That makes David\u2019s failure all the more heartbreaking. Just like Adam and Israel before him, he failed to do his job. His adulterous relationship with Bathsheba is \u201cexample A\u201d. He ends up getting her pregnant and has her husband killed to cover it up. David\u2019s sin with Bathsheba is a perfect example of spiritual failure beginning vertically and turning into horizontal, relational failure (see Psalm 51 for David\u2019s reflection on the incident after he repented). For many of us, David\u2019s story also exposes why the fear of failure feels so heavy-we see how quickly sin can unravel a life, a calling, and even a kingdom. Yet his repentance also shows that failure is the key to success<\/em> when it drives us back to God instead of away from Him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Old Testament ends on a pretty bleak note. Israel\u2019s failure resulted in its removal from the promised land for a time. They make it back eventually, but it\u2019s not the same anymore\u2014God\u2019s not there. There\u2019s still the matter of their sin. And God\u2019s wrath. That same question remains as we head into 400 years of divine radio silence between the Old and New Testaments: how can a holy God save unholy people? What\u2019s God going to do with failures like Adam, Noah, Israel, David, and us?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Nothing New Under the Sun (Failure Included)<\/p>\n\n\n\n The story of failure is almost literally a \u201ctale as old as time.\u201d Adam, Noah, Israel, and David all failed to reflect God\u2019s glory. As we\u2019ll think about in the next section, we are in the exact same boat as them. But their stories also remind us that failure is the key to success<\/em> when it exposes our inability and magnifies God\u2019s faithfulness. And before we move on, stop and marvel at the fact that another story runs parallel to the story of failure-a success story promised all the way back in the Garden that will result in salvation for God\u2019s people (Gen. 3:15).<\/p>\n\n\n\n Reflection Questions:<\/em><\/strong><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n In the last section, we traced spiritual failure all the way back to the source: Adam\u2019s fall in the Garden of Eden. Unfortunately, Adam\u2019s failure to image God like he was created to do wasn\u2019t just a personal failure-his failure had cosmic effects. For us, those effects are extremely personal, and they shape how we understand what the Bible says about failure today.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Why We Fail<\/p>\n\n\n\n Did you know the Bible explains sin using failure language? Romans 3:23 says, \u201cfor all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.\u201d Sin is, among other things, falling short. Many Bible verses about failure use this same imagery. Scholars say Paul may be borrowing from the world of archery here-God\u2019s glory is the bullseye, and our lives are off target. God\u2019s standard is perfect, and we, obviously, fall well short. We fail to live up to the mark set by God\u2019s holiness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I was a counselor at a Christian day camp during the summer in college. One of the more entertaining parts of my day was the archery station. To say my campers\u2019 efforts at hitting the bullseye were \u201coff target\u201d would be generous. I found out, however, that some kids were missing on purpose. They wanted an excuse to explore the woods, and an errant arrow provided the perfect opportunity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n We Don\u2019t Want to Succeed<\/p>\n\n\n\n Here\u2019s what I\u2019m trying to say: we don\u2019t miss the spiritual mark because we\u2019re still learning and need time to improve. In our natural, sinful state, we have bad moral aim-but that\u2019s what we want. I guess you could say we\u2019re spiritual failures because we want to be-like we\u2019re shooting our arrows in the woods on purpose.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Our problem isn\u2019t ignorance. Flip back a few pages to Romans 1:21\u201323, Paul says:<\/p>\n\n\n\n For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like a mortal human being and birds and animals and reptiles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Sound familiar? Just like Adam in the Garden, we\u2019ve exchanged everything for nothing. We traded the job God gave us to try to be our own boss, exchanging him for ourselves and our sin. The reason we fail to meet God\u2019s standard is, fundamentally, because we don\u2019t care about his standard. We care about our standard. That\u2019s why we don\u2019t always feel like the spiritual failures we are-we manipulate the rules, so we come out looking like winners of games made to serve our ego.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Friend, you won\u2019t know what to do with your fear of failure or your failure in the Bible\u2019s sense until you\u2019re confronted with this hard truth: your heart loves spiritual failure. We aren\u2019t victims of darkness-we love the darkness. The light reveals who we were meant to be and who we actually are, and so we run away from it as fast as we can (John 3:19\u201320).<\/p>\n\n\n\n We Can\u2019t Overcome Our Failure<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Bible uses active metaphors to describe our sin, as Paul does in Romans 1 and 3. We do a lot of suppressing, exchanging, and missing the mark. Scripture also uses passive metaphors to describe our sinful condition. The former draws attention to our pursuit of sin and rejection of God; the latter draws attention to our complete inability to do anything else.<\/p>\n\n\n\n No image more profoundly captures our self-imposed plight than death. \u201cAnd you were dead in the trespasses and sins . . .\u201d (Eph. 2:1). \u201cAnd you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh . . . (Col. 2:13). \u201cFor to set the mind on the flesh is death . . . For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God’s law; indeed, it cannot\u201d (Rom. 8:6\u20137).<\/p>\n\n\n\n Our problem isn\u2019t so much that we\u2019re failing but that we\u2019ve failed. The Scriptures on failure don\u2019t say we\u2019re like someone drowning in the ocean-we\u2019ve already drowned. And we have no hope in ourselves to do anything about it, even if we wanted to (which, of course, we don\u2019t).<\/p>\n\n\n\n We\u2019re spiritual failures because we\u2019re unwilling and unable to be anything else.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Many Faces of Spiritual Failure<\/p>\n\n\n\n Your failures and my failures stem from the same source: our sinful hearts. However, your failures may look completely different from mine. Going back to Romans, Paul ends the chapter with a list of sins in Romans 1:29\u201332. Maybe some of them are familiar to you:<\/p>\n\n\n\n They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness. They are gossips, slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless. Though they know God’s righteous decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Bible verses about failure, like Romans 1:29\u201332, show us that failure is not one-size-fits-all. Spiritual failure may show up in your life in the form of addiction and a string of broken relationships. Spiritual failure may present as unbearable self-righteousness or a passive-aggressive mean streak. Both are two sides of the same coin. We may not fail the same way, but we ultimately fail for the same reason: we\u2019ve exchanged the glory of God for a lie and must live with the consequences.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
2 Standing in a Long Line of Failures<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Failure is nothing new. I want to tell you the origin story of failure so we can learn how spiritual failure entered the world and what it\u2019s done ever since it got here. In doing so, we\u2019ll see how we stand in a long line of failures. My hope is that tracing the story of failure will help us understand why we fail and the implications that come with it-and even why failing is important to our understanding of ourselves and our need for grace.<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Adam<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Noah<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Israel<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
David<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
\n
3 A Bigger Failure Than You Thought<\/h2>\n\n\n\n